The best part of working with Facebook has been the cross-fertilization of ideas, people, and technology. Brian Acton Read Quote
In early 2010, we launched our first localized version of ‘WhatsApp’ for iPhone. It included Spanish and German language translations, to name a couple. Brian Acton Read Quote
WhatsApp will bring Facebook another billion users. We will be a billion-user product. Whether there is a direct valuation or an indirect valuation, there is value, and Facebook understands that well. Brian Acton Read Quote
Your insurance broker has your telephone number, but your insurance broker doesn’t have your Facebook ID. I think they are very different modes of communication. Commingling them can come with risk and peril. Brian Acton Read Quote
WhatsApp provides phone-number-based messaging, and people asked, ‘Isn’t that what SMS is?’ Yes, but SMS is expensive, antiquated, and what WhatsApp did was modernize and level that playing field. For example, in Europe, if France wants to talk to Belgium, it’s extraordinary costly because of border and telecom charges. Brian Acton Read Quote
My mom started an air-freight company; my grandmother built a golf course. I have a certain degree of entrepreneurial risk-taking in my family history. Maybe that eventually rubbed off on me a little bit. Brian Acton Read Quote
Yes, I was a big math and computer geek, that’s true. I was driven by the scholastic side of things. For me, it was all about what I could do with math and computers. Brian Acton Read Quote