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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

#281

Post by prostoalex »

scarface74 wrote: post #8
mattnewport wrote: post #7

This 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'…

What year would it be ok to be naive enough to think that any for profit company’s main motivation is not to make as much money possible?

The mechanisms can differ as attention-driven businesses have to walk a fine line between revenue maximization and user discontent.

For example, Facebook could've over-induldged on overlay full-screen ads or "watch this video for 30 seconds before proceeding" ads, but they chose not to.

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

#282

Post by sushisource »

deleted_account wrote: post #139

I feel like I'm coming across more of these "exit, then atone" profiles and none of them seem to have any teeth. They read like self-help articles for the ultra-rich: "Broken moral compass keeping you up at night? Try driving a Honda Odyssey." I get it; you took the money. I'd sure as hell take the money. One anecdote about sniping at Sheryl Sandberg is washed away by this milquetoast sentiment: “It was like, okay, w…

I also fail to see how driving a minivan makes you a better person. I don't understand why we fetishize the rich who live like they aren't.

I get not overconsuming, but if you're gonna buy a car might as well make it a nice one - the impact is basically the same.

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

#283

Post by JumpCrisscross »

scarface74 wrote: post #202
cowpig wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is such a thing as business ethics. Facebook's complete disregard for them should not be the norm, even if it, sadly, might be more often than not.

Ascribing ethics or lack of ethics to a business is like ascribing the same traits to a non sentient being. Even if your manager is ethical and “cares” about the well being of his employees, his manager may not. Even if his manager does the board, the investors/shareholders, etc. probably don’t. The whole purpose of a corporation is that a corporation survives without regards of any one person getting hit by a bus. I…

> Ascribing ethics or lack of ethics to a business is like ascribing the same traits to a non sentient being

This is defeatist. Corporations can be sued in courts, just like people. Their obligations are binding, just like peoples'. There is a little more complexity to signing a deal with a corporation than a natural person because there are multiple sapient interests involved, but that's what lawyers are for.

Protecting users' privacy was never prioritized in the acquisition process. If it had been, the anti-monetization clause would have been stronger.

That's okay. We're talking about billions of dollars. But turning around and playing the good guy will take these men more than simply claiming ignorance.

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

#284

Post by praseodym »

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.

On iOS the app used to be $0.99 (one-off), which probably made them a couple millions. In 2013 they moved to a subscription model [1] but this was never implemented; I think nobody was ever charged.

[1] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/whatsapp-on-ios-now-free

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

#285

Post by ptx »

padthai wrote: post #13

Are Matrix clients reliable and fast enough to use them? I am looking forwards to install them to my family but last time I tried they were a little bit unresponsive.

I switched from WhatsApp to Riot, connecting to the public matrix.org server, and it's working well for me. The app is pretty nice. It looks like any other modern chat app.

The end-to-end encryption had some issues earlier (last year?), losing my encryption keys and making all messages in the conversation unreadable, but it seems to be working well in the latest version. It still warns you that encryption is experimental when you enable it, though.

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

#286

Post by chimeracoder »

mort96 wrote: post #228
dasil003 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, 2014 makes no material difference. It's not the recent scandals that have somehow revealed Facebook to be the spiritual successor to Microsoft's "embrace and extend" strategy; this has been obvious for at least a decade. Maybe the public didn't realize it yet, but anyone in tech, especially a successful founding team would have been well aware. That said, I'm not going to demonize these guys. Brian Acton clearly…

I think demonizing the guys behind WhatsApp is entirely warranted. They built up a large userbase around promises of privacy and encryption, and then promptly sold those users to fucking Facebook. Whether they were just gullible and didn't do their due diligence, or if they were malignant, doesn't really make a big difference.

> I think demonizing the guys behind WhatsApp is entirely warranted. They built up a large userbase around promises of privacy and encryption

WhatsApp end-to-end encryption didn't actually begin until after the acquisition to Facebook had already gone through[0].

I am certain that, as of 2012-2013, WhatsApp wasn't even consistently using TLS to encrypt traffic. That's what made it so shocking when they suddenly leapt from some of the worst security practices of all messaging apps on the market to the best[1]. They built a massive userbase long before any efforts were made towards privacy and encryption.

[0] https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2472340,00.asp

[1] Signal didn't exist at the time, and yes, TextSecure existed, but almost nobody was using it compared to WhatsApp or any other chat app on the market today.

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

#287

Post by throwaway5250 »

Johnny555 wrote: post #278

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.

I'd say it's a big deal because $850M donated to a worthy cause (e.g., GiveWell) could have made a big difference in the world. I've suffered far more for far less.

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

#288

Post by dang »

jamiequint wrote: post #266
dang wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't post shallow dismissals to HN, and especially not indignant rants. I realize that's what the internet seems to be for, but we're trying to do better than that here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Come on dang, this is incredibly tame due to things posted on other threads constantly. Why call this particular rant out specifically?

Simply because I saw it.

We can't read all the comments that get posted here. If you see one that's worse, why not help out by flagging it, or emailing hn@ycombinator.com?

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

#289

Post by nashashmi »

praseodym wrote: post #284
dceddia wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

On iOS the app used to be $0.99 (one-off), which probably made them a couple millions. In 2013 they moved to a subscription model [1] but this was never implemented; I think nobody was ever charged. [1] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/whatsapp-on-ios-now-free

I was an idiot who paid for it. twice (－‸ლ)

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

#290

Post by hef19898 »

OhHeyItsE wrote: post #242
hef19898 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> the ICO should have given them pause Freudian slip? :)

Absolutely...
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