Jan Koum

Jan Koum co-founded WhatsApp, which Facebook bought for $22B in 2014, and left the company in 2018. Forbes puts his net worth at $18.6B (19 Sep 2026), with his firm Newlands holding nearly 10 million Meta shares. Jewish Insider's review of his foundation's filing found a $5.3M gift in 2018 to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, which funds programs for serving and former Israeli soldiers, and gifts of at least $1M that year to Friends of Ir David. Wikipedia tallies $6M to Friends of Ir David, $600,000 to the Maccabee Task Force and $175,000 to the Central Fund of Israel, which pays for West Bank settlements. The encrypted-messaging pioneer's giving is not encrypted: soldiers, settlements and campus campaigns. In 2022 Koum gave $2M to AIPAC during the Democratic primaries, the cycle in which AIPAC's new super PAC, United Democracy Project, began spending millions against progressive candidates.