WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton said on Tuesday that he is leaving the company and plans to start his own non-profit organisation as per a report in Recode.
Making the announcement to colleagues at a WhatsApp meeting at Facebook headquarters on Tuesday, Acton later posted the news to his Facebook page.
Acton is one of the co-founders of the company along with Jan Koum and was working with Facebook when WhatsApp was acquired for $19 billion in 2014.
According to a company spokesperson, no one person will replace him in his role.
As per a source close to the company, he led WhatsApp’s push into encryption and was in charge of engineering internally for the company, the report says.
“I am very fortunate at my age to have the flexibility to take new risks and focus on what I'm passionate about. I've decided to start a non-profit focused at the intersection of nonprofit, technology and communications. It's something I've thought about for a while, and now it's time to just focus and execute. I'll have more to share in the coming months.”
Acton’s departure comes at a time when WhatsApp is not currently generating any revenue and plans to hire for a number of key positions.