Brian Acton, Co-Founder Of Whatsapp, Has Been Appointed Interim CEO Of Signal

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Brian Acton, Co-Founder Of Whatsapp, Has Been Appointed Interim CEO Of Signal
Brian Acton, Co-Founder Of Whatsapp, Has Been Appointed Interim CEO Of Signal

Brian Acton, co-founder of WhatsApp, has been named interim CEO of messaging app Signal. This comes after Signal’s current CEO, Moxie Marlinspike, announced his resignation.

Marlinspike has been working on Signal for a decade and is currently looking for candidates for the permanent CEO position.

“It’s difficult to overstate how important Signal is to me, but I now feel very comfortable replacing myself as CEO based on the team we have, and I also believe it is an important step for building on Signal’s success,” Marlinspike wrote in a blog post.

“I’ve been talking with candidates for a few months, but I’d like to broaden the search with this announcement in order to find the best person for Signal’s next decade.”

Marlinspike will remain on the Signal board of directors but will step down as CEO over the next month to focus on the candidate search.

“Brian Acton, who also serves on the Signal Foundation’s board, has agreed to serve as interim CEO during the search. I have complete faith in his dedication to the mission and ability to assist the team at this time “According to Marlinspike.

Acton and Marlinspike provided initial funding of $50 million to the non-profit Signal Foundation, which now oversees the app, in 2018.

Acton co-founded WhatsApp in 2009, and it was acquired by Facebook in 2014. According to the Signal website, he left WhatsApp in 2017 due to disagreements over the use of customer data and targeted advertising.