#8. Jan Koum
Net Worth: $8.8 billion
Country of Origin: Ukraine
Company: WhatsApp
Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Koum arrived at the U.S. in 1992. After working for Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Ernst & Young, the young programmer and Brian Acton co-founded WhatsApp in 2009. The app would later become the most popular mobile messaging service in the world, and would be acquired by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) for roughly $22 billion in cash and stock in 2014. Koum now holds a position in the social media behemoth’s Board of Directors.
