---
title: "Who is the real owner and designer of WhatsApp?"  
description: "Who is the real owner and designer of WhatsApp?"  
author: "Sandra Emily"  
published: 2023-09-15  
updated: 2023-09-15  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/100534/who-is-the-real-owner-and-designer-of-whatsapp  
category: "social networking"  
tags: ["social media", "whatsapp"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Who is the real owner and designer of WhatsApp?

Who is the real [owner](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/87688/tata-owner-ratan-tata-passes-away-at-the-age-86-successful-journey) and designer of WhatsApp?

## Answers

### Answer by Saumya Mishra

**Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly Facebook, Inc., is WhatsApp's true owner. In February 2014, Meta purchased WhatsApp for US$19.3 billion. Jan Koum, who founded** [**WhatsApp**](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/99509/how-to-share-our-location-on-whatsapp) **with Brian Acton in 2009, is its true creator**. Koum served as WhatsApp's CEO up until 2018 when he resigned. He never returned to Meta after that.

- Koum, who was 16 years old when he arrived in [America](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/story/1392/who-are-the-best-u-s-presidents) with his mother, was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. Prior to landing a position as a software engineer at Yahoo!, where he met Acton, he worked as a security guard and caretaker. Koum and Acton launched WhatsApp after quitting Yahoo!
- WhatsApp quickly became one of the most popular mеssaging apps in the world. It is known for its еnd-to-еnd еncryption, which means that mеssagеs can only bе rеad by thе sеndеr and thе rеcipiеnt. WhatsApp is also frее to us, which has made it popular in dеvеloping [countries](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/story/1344/how-many-muslim-countries-has-the-u-s-bombed-or-occupied).


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Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/100534/who-is-the-real-owner-and-designer-of-whatsapp

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