Brian Acton

Brian Acton
Born (1972-02-17) February 17, 1972 (age 52)
Michigan, U.S.
EducationStanford University (BCS)
Occupations
Years active1992–present
Known for
Title
SpouseTegan Acton
Websitesignalfoundation.org

Brian Acton (born February 17, 1972) is an American business executive and computer programmer serving as the executive chairperson of Signal Technology Foundation, which he co-founded with Moxie Marlinspike in 2018.[1][2] Acton also serves as interim chief executive officer (CEO) of Signal Messenger LLC.[3]

He was formerly employed at Yahoo!. In 2009, Jan Koum and Acton co-founded WhatsApp,[4] a mobile messaging application which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for US$19 billion. Acton left WhatsApp in September 2017 to start the Signal Foundation.[5] According to Forbes (2020), Acton is the 836th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $2.5 billion.[4]

  1. ^ Marlinspike, Moxie; Acton, Brian (February 21, 2018). "Signal Foundation". Signal.org. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  2. ^ "Statement of Information". businesssearch.sos.ca.gov. California Secretary of State. August 28, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 24, 2021. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  3. ^ Marlinspike, Moxie (January 10, 2022). "New Year, New CEO". signal.org. Signal Foundation. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Brian Acton". Forbes. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  5. ^ CNBC (September 13, 2017). "WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton to leave company". CNBC. Retrieved October 10, 2017.