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WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

forbes.com

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Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#271

Post by abalone »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #260
ozgune wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pre-Facebook, WhatsApp's monetization strategy has been to charge users a nominal fee for usage ($1/year). And $1/yr with 1B users doesn't justify the price tag for Facebook. So Facebook wanted to introduce advertising. PS: I'd be happy to pay them $1/month because a significant part of my communication happens over WhatsApp. The challenge is $1/month is probably too pricey for most of their user base.

The challenge is $1/month is probably too pricey for most of their user base. I was born and raised in a third world country and 99% of my family and friends still live there. Our GDP per capita is around $1,000 (yearly figure). I know people with children who make no more than $150 per month and cannot afford their own apartment. I know people who make even less. I know people who live in villages and probably have…

This is an invalid comparison. WhatsApp is an OTT messaging service. You're comparing it to carrier internet and voice service.

It would be more valid to compare it to carrier text messaging fees, which was the arbitrage opportunity they exploited. But that opportunity is mostly gone now that everyone has smartphones. If WhatsApp charged $2/month they would face the same challenge from upstart apps that carriers faced from WhatsApp.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#273

Post by unethical_ban »

qubax wrote: post #270

I'm so sick of the self-righteous moralizing and bullshit by the tech elites and the news companies that help push that narrative. Brian Acton didn't create whatsapp to "do good". Facebook wasn't created to "do good". Google wasn't formed to "do good". People create companies to make money. Why is this so hard for people to understand? The guy spent 3 years creating a silly messaging app and growing a userbase and so…

I'm so sick of these rants that claim there is no motivation in creating a business other than to make money. There can be no passion for something, there can be no vision for a better future or a way to improve communities. No, every business can only be focused on maximizing profit, and damn the consequences.

That is a load of horseshit, and that view only serves to perpetuate that stereotype. To be sustaining is what a businesses needs to survive, but many businesses have missions an ethos of doing good as well.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#274

Post by VIPMaster »

dceddia wrote: post #258
jjeaff wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how many paid a single cent for it?

Wasn't there a point where WhatsApp cost $1/year or something like that? Or am I thinking of something else? I don't know how long that lasted though.

That was technically their business model, but they gave you one year free and also extended your 'subscription' indefinitely if you decided not to pay after that - basically the WinRAR of messaging apps.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#275

Post by johannes1234321 »

scarface74 wrote: post #65
mattnewport wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the issue, the issue is whether assurances that were made to them, with or without some legal backing, could be trusted. Companies can be motivated by profit and still be honest.

What if the person who made the promise to you even in good faith later was overruled by the board/shareholders, etc? You should never “trust” anyone who you do business with outside of a contract.

If they don't have the support from their stakeholders they shouldn't give such a promise.

In this specific case Mark Zuckerberg holds controlling amount of the stock.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#276

Post by antirez »

slig wrote: post #189
antirez wrote: post #119

I want to tell a story about Whatsapp that is unrelated to that, but incidental, and the reason why this seems too much to me. I don't like the company even if I use Whatsapp every days since the start, because when it started to spread in Europe, at the start of the iPhone and Apple store era, Whatsapp was the worst thing ever in the app store in terms of how strongly they advertised their platform, almost in a spam…

I remember that they false advertised it on App Stores as "WhatsApp - Free SMS".

Exactly, among the many other similar things.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#277

Post by st1ck »

madrox wrote: post #184
waterhouse wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not saying you're not mostly right, but there is the case of Jean-Baptiste Kempf, maintainer of VLC, who apparently turned down tens of millions to put ads into VLC. (I suppose that is two orders of magnitude smaller than a billion.) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15372048

And if he chose to criticize the WhatsApp founders, it would carry a lot of weight with me. I didn't say altruism doesn't exist...I just don't believe it's in this comment thread. :)

I don't know the details, but he could've turned down monetization of his work for purely selfish reasons as well.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#278

Post by Johnny555 »

Why are people acting like this is a big deal? His net worth is $3.6B (not sure if that includes the $850M he walked away from).

Giving up $850M when you already have $2B doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice, and is unlikely to change his life at all.

Giving up $850K when you have $2M would be a bigger sacrifice than giving up $850M when you already have $2B.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#279

Post by jonas21 »

madrox wrote: post #163

I'm sure Acton and Koum told themselves they were also keeping the power to be in control. I'm sure they went into it thinking they could avoid this end. The brain is a powerful rationalizer when it sees generational wealth within reach. The indignant tone of the comments here make me laugh. There are very few things I can imagine readers of HN not doing for a billion dollars. People may say otherwise, but until they…

> The indignant tone of the comments here make me laugh.

Yeah, the level of indignation and self-righteousness in the comments on HN (and not just in this thread) seems to have gotten worse lately. Maybe time for me to take a break from HN for a bit...

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#280

Post by com_kieffer »

dceddia wrote: post #258
jjeaff wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how many paid a single cent for it?

Wasn't there a point where WhatsApp cost $1/year or something like that? Or am I thinking of something else? I don't know how long that lasted though.

Until the facebook acquisition it cost about $1/year. IIRC it was even profitable.
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