WhatsApp's CEO Is Suddenly Leaving Facebook. It Could Cost Him $1B | Hacker News Reader

WhatsApp's CEO Is Suddenly Leaving Facebook. It Could Cost Him $1B

time.com

53 pointsmromanuk28 comments

> Koum’s decision may be made easier thanks to the $10.4 billion fortune he’s already accrued, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s already sold $8 billion worth of Facebook stock since 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

What's the point of FU money if you never say FU? Good for him.

On the other hand: if he could hold his nose and hang on for another 7 months, he'd make $1B, which, if he donated to a cause, could really change things.

Lots of successful exits recently, many new millionaires and billionaires. Not a lot of causes changing things, at least not that I've been seeing.

I did see a homeless encampment get bulldozed the other day. The day before that I watched a Vietnam Vet take a dump on the sidewalk, we made awkward eye contact.

Not sure where all those billions are going but the "cause" does not seem to be moving forward.

I'm just curious, how exactly you'd propose to change it?

With money, of course.

Indeed. I'm inspired by Rutger Bregman who famously states in his book Utopia For Realists:

> "It's more expensive to sustain poverty than it is to eradicate it"

When is enough, enough? Do you really need that other billion when you already have a few? Giving money to the poor works: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/06/utopia...

> I did see a homeless encampment get bulldozed the other day. The day before that I watched a Vietnam Vet take a dump on the sidewalk, we made awkward eye contact.

Dude what state do you live in? I must live in a bubble over here...

Given that we're on HN and SF has notorious homeless problems, I'd say odds are high that it's somewhere in the Bay Area.

Colorado

Two of your anecdotal experiences don't speak for the overall effectiveness of charity organizations.

I'm not criticizing charity I'm criticizing tech millionaires. The world is coming unglued and they seem to care very little about the "scum" around them who make less than six figures.

7 months could be an eternal hell in his role.

He could also quit today and Facebook could donate the $1B and you'd end up exactly the same.

It might be question of opportunity costs for him. Maybe he has some project or idea that he wants to realise. Seven months can be a long time in the tech industry.

Joe Rogan fan right there.

>The Washington Post reported earlier that Koum is exiting the company after clashing with Facebook over strategy

I think it's a very important point to make that a large part of the strategy that was being debated was weakening the encryption. [0]

At least as far as I'm concerned, that is one of the more important parts of the story that I don't feel is being discussed enough, or in cases of articles like this, entirely glossed over.

[0] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/04/hours...

> The stock vests in increments until late 2018, with 1.9 million shares due to vest in mid-May and mid-August, plus a final tranche of 2.1 million set to be issued in November.

The guy could have collected $336M, if he had just stayed for 2 more weeks. If it were me, I would have just grinded out those 2 weeks, and given the extra $300M to my favorite charity. I guess he must have really hated being at FB...

It's highly likely his choice was more complicated than that. His net worth is $10B, so $300M isn't exactly pocket change, but it's possible by exiting now he got to make a statement and disavow involvement in future decisions.

Is it possible this is his way of indicating a clear canary event?

Staying longer also has opportunity costs. The article says he will take "some time off to do things I enjoy", but perhaps one of the things he enjoys is a new $10B startup.

> The guy could have collected $336M, if he had just stayed for 2 more weeks. If it were me, I would have just grinded out those 2 weeks, and given the extra $300M to my favorite charity. I guess he must have really hated being at FB...

He he could've given an even larger donation to Signal than his co-founder did.

He could spend 500k a day every single day for 50+ years and still not spend what he has. I think at some point the money doesn't matters.

There is a difference between buying a small island for fun and buying a small island and building your own fully staffed pleasure paradise with an airport. My imagination has no limit on how to use infinite ever increasing amounts of money.

I sometimes wonder what motivates obscenely rich people to continue working, particularly when that work is as controversial as Facebook. The values of these people are clearly different from mine. In Koum's shoes I'd probably make the same decision, he doesn't need to work another day in his life if he doesn't want to so he has no excuse to violate his personal beliefs.

If you have 10 billion+ you maybe do not care anymore.

I hardly make 0.00001% of that per month. He got quite rich indeed.

With $10.4 billion, that would make it the annual return on his investments.

Can someone give the link to Koum's Facebook post?

https://www.facebook.com/jan.koum/posts/10156227307390011

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