Haaretz - back to home page
LOG INSUBSCRIBE NOWSubscribe now

In the News

Facebook Rejected WhatsApp Co-founder in 2009

Brian Acton tweeted at the time 'Facebook turned me down.... Looking forward to life's next adventure.'

new-hdc-logo
Haaretz
new-hdc-logo
Haaretz

What a difference five years make: Brian Acton, a co-founder of WhatsApp – the company acquired by Facebook in a $19 billion cash and stock deal – was turned down for a job at the social network in 2009.

After being rejected, Acton tweeted that he was looking forward to "life's next adventure."

That adventure included working at Yahoo! with his WhatsApp co-founder, Jan Koum, who joins Facebook's board as part of the deal.

Facebook shouldn’t feel too bad about passing up on Acton: Twitter apparently passed on him first.

Brian Acton's tweet from 2009Credit: Twitter

Click the alert icon to follow topics:

Comments

SUBSCRIBERS JOIN THE CONVERSATION FASTER

Automatic approval of subscriber comments.

$1 for the first month

Already signed up? LOG IN

A family grieves outside the SSGT Willie de Leon Civic Center following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Wednesday.

Israeli PM Offers Condolences After Texas Gunman Kills 21 at Elementary School

U.S. President Joe Biden, this week.

Biden Decides to Keep Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Terror List, Says Report

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

Progressive Jews Urge ADL Chief to Apologize for Calling Out Democratic Activist

Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders with Jessica Cisneros in San Antonio last week.

It’s AIPAC vs. Bernie Sanders in Too-close-to-call Texas Democratic Runoff

U.S. President Joe Biden. Making a historic pivot to Asia.

Biden Does What His Three Predecessors Talked About Yet Failed to Do

Meir Kahane addressing his followers during a demonstration in Jerusalem, in 1984.

Why the U.S. Removed Kahane Chai From Terrorist Blacklist

In the News

In the News