He left $850M on the table? After $3.8B? Wow.
WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
121–130 of 413 posts
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't have a contract or prior agreement You mean, except for criminal law? I don't see how this is in any way equivalent to adding ads to Whatsapp.
> You mean, except for criminal law? I don't see how this is in any way equivalent to adding ads to Whatsapp. It's not against the law to lie to me in most cases, but I still have the same expectation/requirement that people will be honest with me that I do that they won't steal.
Even when doing multi billion dollar deals you would trust a handshake agreement?
I wouldn't trust a handshake agreement on a used car.
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#123"“I called her out one time,” says Acton, who sensed there might be greed at play. “I was like, ‘No, you don’t mean that it won’t scale. You mean it won’t make as much money as . . . ,’ and she kind of hemmed and hawed a little. And we moved on. I think I made my point. . . . They are businesspeople, they are good businesspeople. They just represent a set of business practices, principles and ethics, and policies tha…
As Norm Macdonald says: You wouldn't understand sh*t, you'd be too worried about spiders and being a fly
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#124SavedYouAClick: because he is a billionaire. I am amazed at just the plain stupidity of some of the writers of well nown papers.
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Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#125> At a meeting over the issue he said Zuckerberg also told him: “This is probably the last time you’ll ever talk to me.” I realize this was probably said in fruatration, but I think it paints a pretty clear picture of Zuckerberg's arrogance and entitlement.
Or could it just be Zuckerberg realizing that he is burning all bridges by implementing the monetization?
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#126> At a meeting over the issue he said Zuckerberg also told him: “This is probably the last time you’ll ever talk to me.” I realize this was probably said in fruatration, but I think it paints a pretty clear picture of Zuckerberg's arrogance and entitlement.
It’s clear from his testimony in front of Congress that dealing with people isn’t his fortay.
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#127I get the frustration of seeing your pride and joy used in ways that you hoped to avoid. But he likely would have retained more control of WhatsApp if he stuck around and played ball. Now he has some money, zero control, and he has absolutely scorched the earth for his co-founder or anyone else who wants to minimize ads or find alternate monetization options.
The guy is worth $6 billion according to Wikipedia, he and his cofounder will probably be ok. Maybe we'll see something good come out of this with his involvement in Signal?
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
The "dumb fucks"[0] thing came out in 2010. The WhatsApp acquisition was in 2014. [0] https://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-im...
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I basically don't agree - I think mocking deliberate vulnerability (and people trusting you) shows poor character.
It's the whole punching up, not down, thing.
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#129You sell something for billions of dollars to a giant entity who makes money by selling user data, you should realize they will want to make money to pay for those billions. Most of the time such a purchase results in the original founders departing. You may as well leave at first opportunity. You can always build something else, now with your own money.
Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind
#130You must be either the most naieve person on the planet or a complete moron to sell your company to an advertising company and not expect them to put advertising in your product. Of course he wasn’t noble enough to turn down the money in the first place and turn his product into a big buisness by himself. WhatsApp was literally just a user grab based on a ToDo list app idea released at the right time. Guy should spen…
And/or put more of his money into Signal to right his wrong.