WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton leaving Facebook to start new foundation

New Delhi : Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp Messenger, owned by Facebook now, has stepped down from his post to start a new foundation, he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

“I am very fortunate at my age to have the flexibility to take new risks and focus on what I’m passionate about,” Acton, 45, wrote in a blog post. 

“I've decided to start a foundation focused at the intersection of nonprofit, technology and communications. It’s something I’ve thought about for a while, and now it’s time to just focus and execute. I’ll have more to share in the coming months.”

Acton paid his services to WhatsApp for approximately 8 years. He had co-founded the company with Ukrainian immigrant Jan Koum in 2009. The duo used to work for Yahoo before they decided to leave their jobs and start Whatsapp Messenger.

Facebook bought Whatsapp Messenger in 2014 for a whopping $19 billion in cash and stock. Currently, WhatsApp generates no revenue and is a free service for 1.2 billion users across the globe.