{"id":"jan-koum","type":"person","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/jan-koum","language":"en","name":"Jan Koum","name_en":"Jan Koum","name_ne":null,"description":"Ukrainian-born American entrepreneur, co-founder of WhatsApp","headline":"Ukrainian-born American entrepreneur, co-founder of WhatsApp","also_known_as":[],"summary":"Jan Borysovych Koum is an American billionaire businessman and computer programmer. He is the co-founder and former CEO of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app which was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for US$19.3 billion. According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of US$15.2 billion as of October 2023, making him one of the richest people in the world. Koum was ranked 44th on the Forbes' list of richest Americans in 2023 with a net worth of $15.1 billion.","summary_more":[],"facts":[{"key":"born","label":"Born","values":[{"text":"24 February 1976","date":"1976-02-24"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800#P569"}},{"key":"birthplace","label":"Place of birth","values":[{"text":"Kyiv","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1899"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800#P19"}},{"key":"citizenship","label":"Citizenship","values":[{"text":"United States","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30"},{"text":"Ukraine","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q212"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800#P27"}},{"key":"occupation","label":"Occupation","values":[{"text":"engineer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q81096"},{"text":"computer scientist","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q82594"},{"text":"programmer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5482740"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800#P106"}},{"key":"education","label":"Education","values":[{"text":"San José State University","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q498526"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800#P69"}},{"key":"x","label":"X (Twitter)","values":[{"text":"jankoum","url":"https://x.com/jankoum"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800#P2002"}},{"key":"facebook","label":"Facebook","values":[{"text":"jan.koum","url":"https://www.facebook.com/jan.koum"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800#P2013"}},{"key":"instagram","label":"Instagram","values":[{"text":"jkoum","url":"https://www.instagram.com/jkoum/"}],"source":{"label":"Wikidata","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800#P2003"}}],"office":null,"sections":[],"cited":[],"cited_from":null,"videos":[],"last_reviewed":null,"organizations":[],"same_as":["https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Koum","https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800","https://x.com/jankoum","https://www.facebook.com/jan.koum","https://www.instagram.com/jkoum/"],"faq":[{"q":"When was Jan Koum born?","a":"Jan Koum was born on 24 February 1976 in Kyiv."},{"q":"Where did Jan Koum study?","a":"Jan Koum was educated at San José State University."}],"related":[{"name":"Joe Gebbia","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/joe-gebbia"},{"name":"Luke Nosek","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/luke-nosek"},{"name":"Miriam Adelson","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/miriam-adelson"},{"name":"Adam Riess","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/adam-riess"},{"name":"Alan J. Heeger","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/alan-j-heeger"},{"name":"Alfred G. Gilman","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/alfred-g-gilman"},{"name":"Alfred Hershey","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/alfred-hershey"},{"name":"Allan MacLeod Cormack","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/allan-macleod-cormack"},{"name":"Andrea M. Ghez","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/andrea-m-ghez"},{"name":"Andrew Fire","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/andrew-fire"},{"name":"Andrew Schally","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/andrew-schally"},{"name":"Anthony Leggett","url":"https://diginpl.com/people/anthony-leggett"}],"places_in":[],"nearby":[],"image":{"url":"https://diginpl.com/kb-img/jan-koum-e24a38cd6f.jpg","width":500,"height":506,"license":"CC BY 2.0","credit":"Tech.eu Photostream","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Koum_-_Whatsapp_-_4_Years_from_Now_(12791847664).jpg"},"sources":[{"label":"Wikipedia (English): Jan Koum","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Koum","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"label":"Wikidata item Q15737800","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15737800","license":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},{"label":"Image: Jan Koum - Whatsapp - 4 Years from Now (12791847664).jpg by Tech.eu Photostream (CC BY 2.0)","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Koum_-_Whatsapp_-_4_Years_from_Now_(12791847664).jpg","license":null}],"license":{"text":"CC BY-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/","facts":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/"},"attribution":"Text from the Wikipedia article Jan Koum, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Jan Koum - Whatsapp - 4 Years from Now (12791847664).jpg — Tech.eu Photostream, CC BY 2.0.","cite":"\"Jan Koum\". DigiNepal. Last updated 30 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/jan-koum. Retrieved 5 November 2026.","date_modified":"2026-10-30T06:59:34Z","facts_checked":"2026-11-05","alternates":{"html":"https://diginpl.com/people/jan-koum","en":"https://diginpl.com/people/jan-koum","ne":"https://diginpl.com/people/jan-koum?lang=ne"}}