Home Breadcrumb caret Economy Breadcrumb caret Economic Indicators Once hackers, now billionaires Did you know the creator of WhatsApp, the popular smartphone messaging service, was a hacker? By Staff | March 14, 2014 | Last updated on March 14, 2014 1 min read Did you know the creator of WhatsApp, the popular smartphone messaging service, was a hacker? Read: Give professional clients an advantage Jan Koum is a billionaire now that Facebook bought his service for US $19 billion in February. As a teenager in California he used to search for open connections to the internet that he could explore, Forbes reports. Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen were also teenage hackers. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Napster co-founders Sean Fanning and Sean Parker also hacked. The skills they learned in their wayward days were key to their futures as tech entrepreneurs, reports Forbes. Read more here. Also read: App tells you if parking lot’s full Now there’s an app to track your app Staff The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998. Save Stroke 1 Print Group 8 Share LI logo