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Random fact: WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum is one of the few entrepreneurs who seem to have just retired to a lavish life after cashing out. He hasn’t announced

Random fact: WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum is one of the few entrepreneurs who seem to have just retired to a lavish life after cashing out. He hasn’t announced any public projects or startups he’s working on, unlike the other co-founder Acton. But then, he’s built 4 mega yachts [1] and spent $400 million+ on mansions [2]. 1- https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht/mogambo/owner/ https://www.superyachtfan.com/yacht/mogambo/owner/ 2- https://www.dirt.com/gallery/moguls/tech/jan-koum-house-beverly-hills-whatsapp-1203604615/ https://www.dirt.com/gallery/moguls/tech/jan-koum-house-beve...

fsloth 4y ago
It's fine to recognize you're built out as a one trick pony and then enjoy the trappings of success. I don't mean this in a disrespectful manner - building and selling WhatsApp was an astounding feat.
- ghaff 4y ago
  You're being downvoted. But, while I personally wouldn't have gone the lavish lifestyle route and would probably dabble in things I found interesting, it's not unreasonable and indicated a certain self-awareness to realize you've hit the lottery and you may not want to devote your life to trying to hit the lottery again.
  - slfnflctd 4y ago
    Absolutely valid choice for some of us. Life has taught me that I'm not really all that special in any particular capacity, and more importantly to be okay with it. Being able to cover all my future expenses in a 3 or 4 bedroom place with a high quality security system would be winning at life. I'd definitely want to pursue some hobbies, but I wouldn't expect any of them to make money or change the world. I could at least donate to nonprofits for the latter, though.
    - robocat 4y ago
      > with a high quality security system Jeepers. I am guessing your other priorities in your life make it so you need to live in an unsafe area? I am middle aged, and I have never lived anywhere in my hometown Christchurch that had an active security system. In more that one place the front door or back door was never locked. Probably because I just have never owned much worth stealing! Correction: my parents had a security system, but they stopped using it and it stopped working maybe 15 years ago? I currently live in a particularly safe little area of my city, although I wouldn’t mind having a secret lockup for the few things that can’t be insured. Most rural or small-town New Zealand is even safer than living in my city. Above said, I do believe thievery is increasing in Christchurch. My friends in Woolston had a small shed ram-raided (failed because the shed builder went overboard on big posts), and those friends have needed to add security cameras to help prevent thieves casing their home. Anecdotally theft in Lyttelton is on the rise.
      - throw0101c 4y ago
        > I am guessing your other priorities in your life make it so you need to live in an unsafe area? It may not be so much you live in an area with danger, but the danger comes to your safe area looking for money (ransom). And not just you, but those around you: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Paul_Getty#Kidnapping_of_grandson_John_Paul_Getty_III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Paul_Getty#Kidnapping_of_gr... See also "Lottery winner 'regretted scooping £11m' when brother hired hitman to assassinate him": * https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/lottery-winner-regretted-scooping-11m-25900503 https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/lottery-winner-r...
        robocat 4y ago
        > kidnapping, hitman These are outrageously unlikely in my country, and would guess are extremely unlikely even in the USA. If you are worried about extreme events, then a security system is hardly going to help you. When you win the lottery, you can move or buy a good security system.
  - xeromal 4y ago
    I've had a similar thought of this regarding one hit wonders. So many of them hit it big on a single song and they end up thinking that the hit was because the people like "them" when a lot of the time, it just hit the cultural zeitgeist at the right time or was used in a commercia/tiktok. I often think if that happened for me, I'd try my best to milk it and then dip. You might only have a few hundred thousand dollars but save it and go back to what you were doing before while still making music on the side. The best example I've seen of this is chamillionaire. He had a string of 3-5 hits but diversified and has stayed wealthy while many of the people in a similar vein are broke.
EugeneOZ 4y ago
Smart people do exist.
- tecleandor 4y ago
  I struggle to see what's exactly smart on spending $400M in mansions, and another ~400M in yachts (apart from his +100 cars collection). Just the maintenance for his yachts is ~$25M a year. You could say "he does what he likes", but it doesn't sound smart nor grounded to me.
  - fbdab103 4y ago
    Wikipedia lists him with a net worth just shy of $14 billion. As a percentage of wealth, the mansions, yachts, and maintenance are less than what a typical person spends. Not that it makes any financial sense whatsoever, but the scale of wealth is unfathomable. Money no longer makes sense.
  - EugeneOZ 4y ago
    I’m not sure my words will help you understand me better, but still: some people live to work, and some people work to enjoy their only life.
mr_mitm 4y ago
Just like MySpace Tom, IIRC. Finally some relatable people.
- benzible 4y ago
  MySpace was a project within an existing company, eUniverse, later InterMix. Tom and Chris DeWolfe were employees of InterMix, not founders. Intermix was acquired by News Corp. for $580M. Not sure how much equity Tom ended up with but I'm sure his payday was a tiny fraction of what WhatsApp's founders received.
kubb 4y ago
I can certainly understand the need to enjoy life, but it does feel obscene to spend that much on yachts. Money is power and power comes with moral responsibility. I think that's why the Gates' started that foundation. For many people it's easier to feel good about having so much if you can claim that you're using it for good.
- roncesvalles 4y ago
  >Money is power and power comes with moral responsibility. I don't know if I agree with that. Are they actually qualified to be wielding that much power? Maybe it's better to just let them spend it on personal luxury or passive philanthropy than to have them start twiddling society's levers just because they have a strong urge to "do something".
  - thundergolfer 4y ago
    You think directing your massive fortune towards spending on luxury goods isn't in itself "twiddling society's levers"?
    - kubb 4y ago
      Yeah, you don't build a yacht in isolation, you need labor, resources, it has a cultural and environmental impact. Whatever you do with so much dough is gonna have consequences, there's no staying neutral.
    - roncesvalles 4y ago
      It's not the same because it's within the bounds of what the economy "wants" you to do. It's an option that's available, instead of modifying the fabric of society to create an option that was previously unimaginable.
      - thundergolfer 4y ago
        I think that's a completely broken idea of how an economy works. There's no neutral position where your cooperating with an economy "wants".
offtotheraces 4y ago
He has also become a very quiet mega philanthropist- he doesn’t publicize his giving but it’s on a huge scale
- thundergolfer 4y ago
  Finding it hard to give a guy any philanthropy credit when he's apparently spend hundreds of millions on personal luxury. In a world where mere 10s of dollars can fund a medical intervention that change s the life of a poor child, having 4 megayachts is obscene.
  - xmprt 4y ago
    Well what else are you supposed to do? Fly your private jet to Bali and then not have a megayacht sitting there waiting for you? There's no way I'm waiting a full week for them to sail over from the Maldives so I need to have at least two.
    - fbdab103 4y ago
      With that line of thinking, he is under-equipped in the yacht department. Should have one dedicated to each ocean.

fsloth 4y ago

It's fine to recognize you're built out as a one trick pony and then enjoy the trappings of success. I don't mean this in a disrespectful manner - building and selling WhatsApp was an astounding feat.

ghaff 4y ago
You're being downvoted. But, while I personally wouldn't have gone the lavish lifestyle route and would probably dabble in things I found interesting, it's not unreasonable and indicated a certain self-awareness to realize you've hit the lottery and you may not want to devote your life to trying to hit the lottery again.
- slfnflctd 4y ago
  Absolutely valid choice for some of us. Life has taught me that I'm not really all that special in any particular capacity, and more importantly to be okay with it. Being able to cover all my future expenses in a 3 or 4 bedroom place with a high quality security system would be winning at life. I'd definitely want to pursue some hobbies, but I wouldn't expect any of them to make money or change the world. I could at least donate to nonprofits for the latter, though.
  - robocat 4y ago
    > with a high quality security system Jeepers. I am guessing your other priorities in your life make it so you need to live in an unsafe area? I am middle aged, and I have never lived anywhere in my hometown Christchurch that had an active security system. In more that one place the front door or back door was never locked. Probably because I just have never owned much worth stealing! Correction: my parents had a security system, but they stopped using it and it stopped working maybe 15 years ago? I currently live in a particularly safe little area of my city, although I wouldn’t mind having a secret lockup for the few things that can’t be insured. Most rural or small-town New Zealand is even safer than living in my city. Above said, I do believe thievery is increasing in Christchurch. My friends in Woolston had a small shed ram-raided (failed because the shed builder went overboard on big posts), and those friends have needed to add security cameras to help prevent thieves casing their home. Anecdotally theft in Lyttelton is on the rise.
    - throw0101c 4y ago
      > I am guessing your other priorities in your life make it so you need to live in an unsafe area? It may not be so much you live in an area with danger, but the danger comes to your safe area looking for money (ransom). And not just you, but those around you: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Paul_Getty#Kidnapping_of_grandson_John_Paul_Getty_III https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Paul_Getty#Kidnapping_of_gr... See also "Lottery winner 'regretted scooping £11m' when brother hired hitman to assassinate him": * https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/lottery-winner-regretted-scooping-11m-25900503 https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/lottery-winner-r...
      - robocat 4y ago
        > kidnapping, hitman These are outrageously unlikely in my country, and would guess are extremely unlikely even in the USA. If you are worried about extreme events, then a security system is hardly going to help you. When you win the lottery, you can move or buy a good security system.
- xeromal 4y ago
  I've had a similar thought of this regarding one hit wonders. So many of them hit it big on a single song and they end up thinking that the hit was because the people like "them" when a lot of the time, it just hit the cultural zeitgeist at the right time or was used in a commercia/tiktok. I often think if that happened for me, I'd try my best to milk it and then dip. You might only have a few hundred thousand dollars but save it and go back to what you were doing before while still making music on the side. The best example I've seen of this is chamillionaire. He had a string of 3-5 hits but diversified and has stayed wealthy while many of the people in a similar vein are broke.

EugeneOZ 4y ago

Smart people do exist.

tecleandor 4y ago
I struggle to see what's exactly smart on spending $400M in mansions, and another ~400M in yachts (apart from his +100 cars collection). Just the maintenance for his yachts is ~$25M a year. You could say "he does what he likes", but it doesn't sound smart nor grounded to me.
- fbdab103 4y ago
  Wikipedia lists him with a net worth just shy of $14 billion. As a percentage of wealth, the mansions, yachts, and maintenance are less than what a typical person spends. Not that it makes any financial sense whatsoever, but the scale of wealth is unfathomable. Money no longer makes sense.
- EugeneOZ 4y ago
  I’m not sure my words will help you understand me better, but still: some people live to work, and some people work to enjoy their only life.

mr_mitm 4y ago

Just like MySpace Tom, IIRC. Finally some relatable people.

benzible 4y ago
MySpace was a project within an existing company, eUniverse, later InterMix. Tom and Chris DeWolfe were employees of InterMix, not founders. Intermix was acquired by News Corp. for $580M. Not sure how much equity Tom ended up with but I'm sure his payday was a tiny fraction of what WhatsApp's founders received.

kubb 4y ago

I can certainly understand the need to enjoy life, but it does feel obscene to spend that much on yachts. Money is power and power comes with moral responsibility. I think that's why the Gates' started that foundation. For many people it's easier to feel good about having so much if you can claim that you're using it for good.

roncesvalles 4y ago
>Money is power and power comes with moral responsibility. I don't know if I agree with that. Are they actually qualified to be wielding that much power? Maybe it's better to just let them spend it on personal luxury or passive philanthropy than to have them start twiddling society's levers just because they have a strong urge to "do something".
- thundergolfer 4y ago
  You think directing your massive fortune towards spending on luxury goods isn't in itself "twiddling society's levers"?
  - kubb 4y ago
    Yeah, you don't build a yacht in isolation, you need labor, resources, it has a cultural and environmental impact. Whatever you do with so much dough is gonna have consequences, there's no staying neutral.
  - roncesvalles 4y ago
    It's not the same because it's within the bounds of what the economy "wants" you to do. It's an option that's available, instead of modifying the fabric of society to create an option that was previously unimaginable.
    - thundergolfer 4y ago
      I think that's a completely broken idea of how an economy works. There's no neutral position where your cooperating with an economy "wants".

offtotheraces 4y ago

He has also become a very quiet mega philanthropist- he doesn’t publicize his giving but it’s on a huge scale

thundergolfer 4y ago
Finding it hard to give a guy any philanthropy credit when he's apparently spend hundreds of millions on personal luxury. In a world where mere 10s of dollars can fund a medical intervention that change s the life of a poor child, having 4 megayachts is obscene.
- xmprt 4y ago
  Well what else are you supposed to do? Fly your private jet to Bali and then not have a megayacht sitting there waiting for you? There's no way I'm waiting a full week for them to sail over from the Maldives so I need to have at least two.
  - fbdab103 4y ago
    With that line of thinking, he is under-equipped in the yacht department. Should have one dedicated to each ocean.