Amid the ongoing controversy about who would be the head of WhatsApp, Jan Koum recently announced that he will be parting ways with the world’s largest messaging app. In an emotional Facebook post, the CEO of WhatsApp wrote, “I’m leaving at a time when people are using WhatsApp in more ways than I could have imagined. The team is stronger than ever and it’ll continue to do amazing things.” Koum further added that he wanted to take some time off to do things which he wished to do since long. He said, “I enjoy outside of technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars and playing ultimate frisbee.”
Founding WhatsApp
Koum, an Ukranian-American had co-founded WhatsApp with Brian Acton in 2009. The duo after five years had sold their product to Facebook for a whopping $19 billion. Acton, who has earlier left WhatsApp, has come out to be a major Facebook critic of recent times. With another leader’s exit, the organization is under immense pressure to improve things.
The Emerging Face
Neeraj Arora, a former Google corporate development manager who’s been a part of WhatsApp since 2011, has come up as a new face to replace Koum. According to a report by TechCrunch, Arora can reinstate Koum as the new CEO of WhatsApp.
Here are few facts you should know about him:
- Arora is a pass-out of IIT Delhi and Indian School of Business. If he is promoted, he will join the league of Indian CEOs such as Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, and Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen who are currently heading the technical giants.
- Neeraj Arora joined Accellion after he graduated from IIT, a cloud solutions company in 2000. He was one of the few members of the organization who build the pieces of the core technology.
- In 2006, he pursued MBA in Finance and Strategy from ISB after which he joined Times Internet Limited.
- He joined Google in 2007 and handled acquisitions and strategic investments for products of Google across various geographies. He has been working with WhatsApp now for seven years.
