Koum sold WhatsApp to Facebook for more than $19 billion in 2014. The independence and protection of its users' data is a core tenet of WhatsApp that Koum and his co-founder, Brian Acton, promised to preserve when they sold their tiny startup to Facebook. It doubled down on its pledge by adding encryption in 2016. The data clash took on additional significance in the wake of revelations in March that Facebook had allowed third parties to mishandle its users' personal information.

Source: Los Angeles Times April 30, 2018 23:08 UTC