⬅ # 121 Li Xiting|# 123 Wang Wei ➡

# 122 Jan Koum 

$16.4B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 10/9/2024
-$27.9M (-0.17%)

# 122 Jan Koum 

$16.4B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 10/9/2024
-$27.9M (-0.17%)
OccupationCofounder and CEO, WhatsApp
Source of WealthWhatsApp
Age48
ResidenceAtherton, California
Marital StatusSingle
EducationDrop Out, San Jose State University
Age-Adjusted Net Worth$36.9B
Jan Koum
Jan Koum
United States
Net worth: $16.4B

Self-Made Score 

TAG Heuer Formula 1 Chronograph

Wealth History

Hover or tap to reveal net worth by year
Loading Chart

Biography

Career at Yahoo

Worked at Yahoo for nearly nine years, starting in 1997 as an infrastructure engineer
Met Brian Acton while working at Yahoo; both later left and took a year off to travel
Applied to work at Facebook but was rejected

WhatsApp Co-Founder

Founded WhatsApp in January 2009; incorporated WhatsApp Inc. on his 33rd birthday
Named WhatsApp due to sounding like 'what's up'
Fortunes turned after Apple added push notification ability in June 2009
Convinced Brian Acton to join as co-founder; Acton brought in $250,000 in seed funding
Acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $19.3 billion in cash and stock

Post-WhatsApp Period

Resigned as CEO of WhatsApp in April 2018 and left Facebook's board
Sold over $2.4 billion worth of Facebook stock in the first half of 2016
Initially thought to forfeit unvested stock, later revealed to be formally employed with 'rest and vest' method

Personal Life

Religious Affiliation: Jewish
Dislikes being labeled an entrepreneur; expressed a desire to build useful products over making money
Acknowledged past restraining order incidents in 1996, expressing remorse in 2014

Jan Koum's Wealth is Equivalent to:

12,602,002 Herman Miller Aeron Chairs

Herman Miller Aeron Chair

3,097,446 Gold Bars (50 gram)

24K Solid 50g Gold Ingot

167,305 Tiny Homes

Tiny House, Two Bedroom Solar Prefab Home

How long would it take you to become as rich as Jan Koum?

If you started with $10,000 and invested an additional $500 each month at a 43.88% CAGR, it would take you 5 years to reach Jan Koum's net worth of $16.4B.

Is this realistic? It depends how closely the VIX-TA-Macro Advanced model performs to its history in the future. Since Grizzly Bulls launched on January 1, 2022, it's returned 59.83% compared to 21.72% for the S&P 500 benchmark.

Enter data in all but one field below, then calculate the missing value

Jan Koum is very wealthy, but what's stopping you from reaching that same level of success? As summarized in our five fundamental rules to wealth building, becoming wealthy in a modern capitalist economy is not complicated. There's actually only three variables:

  1. Your starting capital
  2. Your earnings after expenses
  3. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of your savings

Most people start with zero or very little, so if you weren't born into wealth, don't fret! The majority of the fortunate folks listed in our Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index came from middle class or lower backgrounds. The most distinguishing characteristic of the group is their ability to consistently earn a high CAGR on their savings.

Every billionaire has a unique strategy to achieve high CAGR. For Jan Koum, WhatsApp is the primary source. Whether you choose to invest your savings in your own businesses or the businesses of others is not as important. The salient piece of the puzzle is ensuring that your hard-earned savings are generating sufficient CAGR to reach your long term goals.

Most people simply invest their money in index funds and call it a day. There's nothing wrong with this approach, but it guarantees relative mediocrity. To achieve greatness, you need to invest your money to earn higher than average returns. In the long run, better investors will always finish ahead of better earners.

Source: Grizzly Bulls reporting

Methodology: Grizzly Bulls' Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's billionaires and richest people. Grizzly Bulls strives to provide the most accurate net worth calculations available. We pull data from public equity markets, SEC filings, public real estate records, and other reputable sources.

The index is dynamic and updates daily at the close of U.S. stock market trading based on changes in the markets, economy, and updates to Grizzly Bulls' proprietary algorithm of personal wealth calculation. Stakes in public companies are tracked daily based on the relevant closing prices of the underlying securities. Additionally, stakes in private companies, cash, real estate, and other less easily valued assets are updated periodically through careful analysis of insider transactions, comparable public company sales / EBITDA multiples, etc.

Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. We only recommend products or services we believe will add value to our readers.

Edited by: Lee Bailey