Brian Acton

Brian Acton
Born	Template:Birth year and age
Birthplace	Michigan, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Technology executive, computer programmer, philanthropist
Title	Executive Chairperson, Signal Technology Foundation; Interim CEO, Signal Messenger LLC
Known for	Co-founding WhatsApp, co-founding Signal Foundation
Education	Stanford University (B.S., Computer Science)

Brian Acton (born 1972) is an American technology executive, computer programmer, and philanthropist who co-founded the mobile messaging application WhatsApp with Jan Koum in 2009. WhatsApp grew into one of the world's most widely used communication platforms before being acquired by Facebook (now Meta Platforms) in February 2014 for approximately US$19 billion, one of the largest technology acquisitions in history. Acton's journey to that landmark deal included notable setbacks — he was rejected for jobs at both Twitter and Facebook before co-creating the application that Facebook would eventually purchase. Following growing disagreements with Facebook's leadership over data privacy and monetization strategy, Acton departed WhatsApp in September 2017, forgoing an estimated $850 million in unvested stock. In 2018, he co-founded the Signal Technology Foundation with Moxie Marlinspike, investing $50 million of his own money to support the development of the encrypted messaging application Signal. Acton serves as executive chairperson of the Signal Technology Foundation and as interim chief executive officer of Signal Messenger LLC.

Early Life

Brian Acton was born in 1972 in Michigan. He grew up in the United States and developed an early interest in computing and technology. Acton has connections to Orlando, Florida, which has been described as part of his personal background.

Before entering the technology industry professionally, Acton pursued higher education in computer science, which would form the foundation for his later career in software engineering and entrepreneurship. His upbringing in Michigan, combined with his subsequent education in California, positioned him at the center of the emerging technology sector during the 1990s, a period of rapid expansion in internet-based companies and services.

Education

Acton attended Stanford University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. Stanford, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, provided Acton with both the technical training and the professional network that would prove instrumental throughout his career. The university's proximity to major technology companies and its culture of entrepreneurship connected Acton to the broader Silicon Valley ecosystem. It was through professional connections made during and after his time in the technology industry that Acton would eventually meet Jan Koum, his future co-founder at WhatsApp.

Career

Early Career at Yahoo!

After completing his education at Stanford, Acton entered the technology industry. He spent a significant portion of his early career working at Yahoo!, one of the dominant internet companies of the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was during his tenure at Yahoo! that Acton met Jan Koum, a fellow engineer at the company. The two developed a working relationship and friendship that would later serve as the foundation for their entrepreneurial partnership. Both Acton and Koum eventually left Yahoo! as the company faced increasing competitive pressures in the evolving internet landscape.

Rejections from Twitter and Facebook

After leaving Yahoo!, Acton applied for positions at two of Silicon Valley's fastest-growing companies: Twitter and Facebook. Both companies rejected his applications. In 2009, Acton posted on Twitter about being turned down by the social media company, writing about his experience of not getting a job there. He also applied to Facebook and was similarly unsuccessful.

These rejections became a frequently cited example in technology and business media of how initial setbacks do not preclude later success. Within five years of being turned down by Facebook, Acton would co-create a company that Facebook acquired for $19 billion — making the rejection one of the most consequential hiring decisions in the history of the technology industry.

Co-founding WhatsApp

In 2009, Acton and Koum co-founded WhatsApp Inc. The application was initially conceived as a mobile messaging service that would provide a simple, reliable alternative to SMS text messaging. WhatsApp was designed with a focus on user privacy and a clean, advertisement-free interface — principles that both founders held as central to the product's identity.

The application grew rapidly, attracting hundreds of millions of users worldwide. WhatsApp's appeal was rooted in its simplicity, cross-platform functionality, and lack of advertising. The service charged a nominal annual subscription fee rather than relying on advertising revenue, a deliberate choice that reflected Acton and Koum's shared aversion to ad-supported business models.

WhatsApp became particularly popular in international markets, where it served as a low-cost alternative to carrier-based messaging services. The application's growth trajectory attracted attention from major technology companies, including Facebook.

Facebook Acquisition

In February 2014, Facebook announced its acquisition of WhatsApp for approximately $19 billion in cash and stock, making it one of the largest technology acquisitions in history. The deal made both Acton and Koum billionaires. According to Forbes, Acton's stake in the company made him one of the wealthiest people in America virtually overnight.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly bonded with Koum during meetings leading up to the acquisition. As part of the acquisition agreement, Acton and Koum were expected to remain at Facebook for a period to ensure a smooth transition and continued development of WhatsApp.

During testimony in the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust trial against Meta Platforms in 2025, Acton stated that WhatsApp was never intended to compete directly with Facebook as a social networking platform. He described the messaging application as a fundamentally different product from Facebook's social media service.

Disagreements with Facebook and Departure

Following the acquisition, tensions emerged between WhatsApp's founders and Facebook's leadership regarding the future direction of the messaging platform. Acton and Koum had built WhatsApp on a philosophy of minimal data collection and no advertising, principles that increasingly conflicted with Facebook's ad-driven business model.

According to Acton's account, published in a detailed Forbes interview in September 2018, he had disagreements with Zuckerberg and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg over plans to monetize WhatsApp through advertising and to weaken certain user privacy protections. Acton described feeling that Facebook had used him and Koum during the acquisition process, including in dealings with European Union regulators who were reviewing the transaction.

In September 2017, Acton announced his departure from WhatsApp and Facebook. He stated at the time that he intended to start a nonprofit organization. His departure came before his stock had fully vested, meaning he left an estimated $850 million on the table. Acton later told Forbes that he made the decision to leave because he could no longer reconcile his values regarding user privacy with the direction Facebook was taking WhatsApp.

In March 2018, following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal involving Facebook, Acton posted on Twitter with the hashtag #DeleteFacebook, publicly urging users to leave the platform. The statement drew significant media attention given Acton's status as a former Facebook insider and billionaire whose fortune was derived in part from his relationship with the company.

Signal Foundation and Signal Messenger

In February 2018, Acton co-founded the Signal Technology Foundation alongside Moxie Marlinspike, the creator of the Signal Protocol and the Signal encrypted messaging application. Acton provided an initial investment of $50 million to establish the foundation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and maintaining open-source privacy technology.

The Signal Foundation's mission centers on making private communication accessible and widespread. Signal, the messaging application supported by the foundation, uses end-to-end encryption to secure messages, voice calls, and video calls. The application operates as a nonprofit alternative to commercial messaging services, collecting minimal user data and sustaining itself through donations rather than advertising revenue.

Acton serves as the executive chairperson of the Signal Technology Foundation and has also taken on the role of interim chief executive officer of Signal Messenger LLC, the entity that develops and operates the Signal application. His involvement with Signal represents a continuation of the privacy-focused principles that had originally motivated the creation of WhatsApp.

Other Investments

Beyond his work with Signal, Acton has made investments in technology companies. He invested in Trak N Tell, an India-based vehicle telematics company.

Personal Life

Acton resides in Palo Alto, California. He is married to Tegan Acton, and the couple have engaged in philanthropic activities together.

Acton's approach to personal wealth has drawn media attention. Despite becoming a billionaire through the Facebook acquisition of WhatsApp, he chose to leave approximately $850 million in unvested stock when he departed the company in 2017, a decision he described as being motivated by his principles regarding user privacy and data protection. In a 2019 interview with The Verge, Acton discussed his decision to advocate publicly against Facebook and his support for the #DeleteFacebook movement, framing his stance as consistent with his long-held beliefs about technology and privacy.

Recognition

Philanthropy

Acton has been recognized as one of the most significant philanthropic donors in the technology sector. His $50 million investment to establish the Signal Foundation represented one of the largest individual contributions to a privacy-focused nonprofit technology organization. Forbes included Acton among the biggest givers on its Forbes 400 list in 2019, acknowledging his substantial charitable contributions.

The Brian and Tegan Acton philanthropic portfolio has included contributions to various causes, as documented by Inside Philanthropy.

Media Coverage

Acton has been profiled extensively in technology and business media. His 2018 interview with Forbes, in which he provided a detailed account of his disagreements with Facebook and his reasons for leaving WhatsApp, became one of the most widely read articles about internal conflicts at major technology companies during that period. His story of being rejected by both Twitter and Facebook before co-creating the application that Facebook acquired for $19 billion has been cited frequently in media discussions of entrepreneurship, resilience, and the unpredictability of career trajectories in the technology sector.

According to the Forbes billionaires list, Acton was ranked as the 836th-richest person in the world in 2020.

Legacy

Brian Acton's career trajectory — from Yahoo! engineer to rejected job applicant at Twitter and Facebook to billionaire co-founder of one of the world's most-used communication platforms — has made him a frequently referenced figure in discussions about entrepreneurship and the technology industry. His story is often cited as an example of how setbacks in one's career can precede substantial achievements.

Acton's departure from Facebook and his subsequent public criticism of the company placed him among a small group of former insiders who openly challenged the practices of major technology platforms regarding user data and privacy. His #DeleteFacebook campaign and his founding of the Signal Foundation positioned him as a prominent advocate for privacy-oriented technology at a time when public concern about data collection by large technology companies was intensifying.

The Signal Foundation, which Acton co-founded and continues to lead, has grown Signal into a messaging platform used by millions of people worldwide, including journalists, activists, and government officials who require secure communications. The foundation's nonprofit structure and commitment to open-source software represent an alternative model for developing and maintaining communication technology outside the conventional advertising-supported framework that dominates much of the technology industry.

Acton's decision to walk away from an estimated $850 million in unvested stock to pursue his principles regarding privacy has been described in media coverage as one of the most expensive acts of conscience in Silicon Valley history. His subsequent testimony in the FTC's antitrust proceedings against Meta in 2025, in which he stated that WhatsApp was never meant to compete with Facebook, contributed to the ongoing regulatory and legal scrutiny of major technology company acquisitions.