Old But Gold: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton Gives The Inside Story On #DeleteFacebook And Why He Left $850 Million Behind (www.forbes.com)
from nunesgh@lemmy.world to privacy@lemmy.ml on 09 Sep 06:25
https://lemmy.world/post/35648745

cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/35648744

Under pressure from Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to monetize WhatsApp, he pushed back as Facebook questioned the encryption he’d helped build and laid the groundwork to show targeted ads and facilitate commercial messaging. Acton also walked away from Facebook a year before his final tranche of stock grants vested. “It was like, okay, well, you want to do these things I don"t want to do,” Acton says. “It’s better if I get out of your way. And I did.” It was perhaps the most expensive moral stand in history. Acton took a screenshot of the stock price on his way out the door—the decision cost him $850 million.

#privacy

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Ulrich@feddit.org on 09 Sep 08:18 collapse

That’s great but…what did he think was going to happen?

SmoothIsFast@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 14:41 next collapse

It was a more naive time

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 09 Sep 17:33 collapse

he could have done a lot more good with $850million

Ulrich@feddit.org on 09 Sep 18:16 collapse

I don’t know what that has to do with my question but there’s no way that $850M can do more good than simply not selling the shit to Facebook. WhatsApp has become a global communication platform. Half the people on the fucking planet are using it on a regular basis.

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 09 Sep 21:36 collapse

i was agreeing that walking away wasn’t the best way to handle it.

Ulrich@feddit.org on 09 Sep 21:54 collapse

I wasn’t talking about walking away, I was talking about getting in bed with them in the first place.

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 09 Sep 21:56 collapse

they bought whatsapp; he didn’t have a choice.

Ulrich@feddit.org on 09 Sep 22:02 collapse

…he owned WhatsApp. It was entirely his choice.

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 09 Sep 22:08 collapse

the ai summary led me to believe whatsapp was incorporated; it looks more like it was seller’s remorse:

The past tense and wistfulness hang in the air. More than four years ago, Acton and his cofounder, Jan Koum, sold WhatsApp, which had relatively insignificant revenue, to Facebook for $22 billion, one of the most stunning acquisitions of the century. Ten months ago he left Facebook, saying he wanted to focus on a nonprofit. Then in March, as details of the Cambridge Analytica scandal oozed out, he sent a Tweet that quickly went viral and shocked his former employers, who had made him a billionaire many times over: “It is time. #deletefacebook.” No explanation followed. He hasn’t sent another Tweet since.

Ulrich@feddit.org on 09 Sep 22:21 collapse

the ai summary

Well there’s your problem.

eldavi@lemmy.ml on 09 Sep 22:35 collapse

it’s a brand new feature i just got from firefox so i’ve been trying out and it clearly has some limitations since this is the 2nd time today.

Ulrich@feddit.org on 09 Sep 23:07 collapse

All of them are subject to the same problems.