Brian Acton Biography
Brian Acton is a computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur from the United States currently serving as interim CEO of Signal Messenger LLC, which he co-founded in 2018 with Moxie Marlinspike.
How old is Brian Acton? – Age
He is 50 to 51 years old as of 2023. He was born between 1972 and 1973 in Michigan, U.S.
Brian Acton Education
Acton grew up in Michigan before migrating to Central Florida to attend Lake Howell High School. Acton obtained a full scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania to study engineering but left after a year to attend Stanford. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Stanford University in 1994.
Brian Acton Wife
He lives in Palo Alto, California, with his wife Tegan Acton.
Brian Acton Net Worth
Acton is the 836th richest person in the world, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.
Brian Acton WhatsApp
WhatsApp was sold to Facebook in 2014 for around US$19 billion in cash and equity. According to Forbes, Acton owned more than 20% of the company, putting his net worth at roughly $3.8 billion. Acton led a $3.5 million investment round for Trak N Tell in 2016, along with two other investors. Acton left WhatsApp in September 2017. Acton told Forbes that he resigned due to a disagreement with Facebook over WhatsApp monetization, and that he willfully left $850 million in unvested options on the table by departing a few months before vesting was finished. He also claimed that Facebook management instructed him to mislead European regulators about Facebook’s intention to integrate Facebook and WhatsApp user data.
Brian Acton Foundation
Acton quit WhatsApp in September 2017 to launch the Signal Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to providing individuals with access to private communication via an encrypted messaging app. Journalists and human rights campaigners frequently utilize Signal.
Brian Acton made a $50 million investment in Signal in February 2018. Acton provided this funds in the form of a loan to the new non-profit Signal Technology Foundation. By the end of 2018, the loan had grown to $105,000,400, with a repayment date of February 28, 2068. The loan is unsecured and has no interest attached to it.
Forbes reported on March 20, 2018, that Acton had openly tweeted support for the #DeleteFacebook movement, resulting in a “new level of public backlash.” In November 2019, journalist Steven Levy questioned Acton about his decision to make his views public. Acton stated that he felt it was time because there was mounting pressure on Facebook. Acton now serves on the Signal Foundation’s board of directors.
Brian Acton House
He spent a total $143.3 million on properties in Palo Alto and Atherton, forming residential “compounds” made up of clusters of single-family homes. Variety reports that WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton spent $86.3 million over the last five years on seven houses totaling 28,490 square feet in Palo Alto’s Professorville neighborhood, and that WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum spent $57 million in five transactions to form a compound in Atherton over the last four years.
Rodericks stated that because property owners occasionally use LLCs to obscure their identity, “we learn more from the press than we do from the permits.” Daniel Johnston, an Atherton City Permit Technician, said that while he couldn’t be “absolutely certain” that Koum owned the property at that location, he had been told as much. The lots were purchased under several LLC identities.
Brian Acton Charity
Since 2014, Brian and his wife Tegan Acton have been establishing a charitable network through the Wildcard Giving foundation, which has three sister foundations: Sunlight Giving, Acton Family Giving, and Solidarity Giving.
Sunlight Giving, a family foundation dedicated to providing the essential needs of low-income families with young children ages 0-5, was founded by the couple in 2014. It also supports safe spaces and groups that promote food security, housing stability, and access to healthcare. The charity assists low-income families in the San Francisco Bay Area with children aged five and under. It is a sister organization to the Wildcard Giving family.
Sunlight Giving’s assets total $470 million. In 2015, it gave $6.4 million, $19.2 million in 2016, and $23.6 million in 2017. This private foundation contributed to the funding of Magnify Community, a non-profit organization dedicated to diverting philanthropic spending to nonprofits. Acton also assisted in the establishment of Acton Family Giving and Solidarity Giving in 2014. According to Forbes, Brian and his wife have donated more than $1 billion to charity organizations in their lifetimes.