What does whatsapp uses right now to make money? From what i know i dont see any ads there
It doesn't - hence the immense pressure Facebook feels from its owners.
WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
41–50 of 413 posts
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#42This article seems a little unfair to the WhatsApp founders when it suggests they should have known that any assurances Facebook made to them as part of the acquisition were obviously lies. Sure in 2018 it might be obvious to most of us that nothing Facebook says or promises can be trusted but I don't think that was necessarily as obvious when the acquisition happened and they can be forgiven for thinking they weren'…
Well, yes and no. Back the day, Facebook and Zuckerberg were the shining examples of successful Silicon Valley companies and founders with a good mission.
That Zuckerberg, at the young age, managed to retain control of facebook all the way up to, and beyond, the ICO should have given them pause so. That hints a certain personality (no judgement intended in that assessment). But that is 20/20 hindsight which is always easy.
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#43This article seems a little unfair to the WhatsApp founders when it suggests they should have known that any assurances Facebook made to them as part of the acquisition were obviously lies. Sure in 2018 it might be obvious to most of us that nothing Facebook says or promises can be trusted but I don't think that was necessarily as obvious when the acquisition happened and they can be forgiven for thinking they weren'…
I don’t know why they trust me...
- Mark Zuckerberg in 2003
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#44This article seems a little unfair to the WhatsApp founders when it suggests they should have known that any assurances Facebook made to them as part of the acquisition were obviously lies. Sure in 2018 it might be obvious to most of us that nothing Facebook says or promises can be trusted but I don't think that was necessarily as obvious when the acquisition happened and they can be forgiven for thinking they weren'…
Facebook's entire business model is ads. Of course, it was going to a) include advertising or b) add more user info to better target ads in other apps.
Facebook has been lying to us since at least 2007. People were always okay with it because they perceived it as being okay and supportive of the right people and policies.
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#45“used him” i have little sympathy for such actors. i’ve known people who got rich on stock options in the ‘00s and then fled california while decrying the rat race. this is the same thing. if you really mean it, donate all the money to charity, an ed foundation, or some such. i’ll even forgive you for keeping 10mm for yourself. otherwise, cry me a river.
From the article (first paragraph, too): > Brian Acton, who left Facebook a year ago — before going on to publicly bite the hand that fed him, by voicing support for the #DeleteFacebook movement (and donating $50M to alternative encrypted messaging app, Signal) And: > And for leaving a cool ~$850M in unvested stock on the table by not sticking it out a few more months inside Zuckerberg’s mothership, as co-founder Jan…
You left out the part where he expected and tried to get the $850M but FB’s lawyers pushed back and he settled after burning bridges. $50M is 0.7% of his net worth last I checked (maybe it’s changed).
Look, I’m glad they’re not still at Facebook but this is hypocritical posturing. They’re not giving the money back. They’re crying all the way to the bank.
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#46“used him” i have little sympathy for such actors. i’ve known people who got rich on stock options in the ‘00s and then fled california while decrying the rat race. this is the same thing. if you really mean it, donate all the money to charity, an ed foundation, or some such. i’ll even forgive you for keeping 10mm for yourself. otherwise, cry me a river.
From the article (first paragraph, too): > Brian Acton, who left Facebook a year ago — before going on to publicly bite the hand that fed him, by voicing support for the #DeleteFacebook movement (and donating $50M to alternative encrypted messaging app, Signal) And: > And for leaving a cool ~$850M in unvested stock on the table by not sticking it out a few more months inside Zuckerberg’s mothership, as co-founder Jan…
Is it rational though 850 mil. could literally be used to save few thousands of lives if one was so inclined. While FB is evil by HN standards it's pretty meh on global scale of things.
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#47> The company is also set to charge businesses for messages they receive from potential customers via the WhatsApp platform — of between a half a penny and 9 cents, depending on the country. Didn't knew this and takes back to the outrageous SMS pricing of 10 cents per SMS. I as a consumer can change easily but it's sad to see that business will have to deal with this crap.
Don't quote me on this since it's partially hearsay. However, this isn't a "trying to get $$ out of businesses" measure as much as an anti spam.
I don't understand how it's anti-spam - they are getting charged for receiving messages, not sending them?
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I understand the sentiment and generally agree with you, someone has to pay for the service, right? And businesses have been paying for all those Toll Free calls customers are making. It's only toll free for the caller.
If Skype hadn’t been a thing I’d agree, but it was. The fact that we aren’t using peer-to-peer encryption in our message apps today is solely because companies want to charge you money for sending messages. Because Skype had the capability to operate as a decentralized encrypted messaging app, and now 10-15 years later, there isn’t an app like that. Not because it’s not possible but because giant tech companies have…
>The fact that we aren’t using peer-to-peer encryption in our message apps today is solely because companies want to charge you money for sending messages.
Encryption export laws. And most importantly, pressures by three lettered agencies to target individual bad actors.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/09/skype...
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#49[deleted]
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#50How an individual can leave $850M on the table to prove a point blows my mind. I'm in awe at that guy, but I can't help but think that with $850M he could have funded so many interesting projects/research.
He tried to do what he thought was right and lost. Then tried to maximize the cash per his agreement and lost. So he did the math and realized that he could spend a chunk of his life most likely either fighting in court and/or being made miserable in exchange for a sum of money he absolutely didn't need. I think he made the right call given his situation. Though this should be (yet another) cautionary tale: when you sell your company, the deal is that you are giving up control in exchange for cash/stock. You can generally stand either on the moral high ground or a mound of cash, rarely can you do both.