“Collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars and playing ultimate frisbee.” That’s what WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum says he intends to do after he leaves parent company Facebook and steps down from its board. Koum reportedly disagreed with Facebook’s attempts to use WhatsApp’s personal data and weaken its encryption. Facebook acquired Koum’s messaging startup in 2014 for $16 billion and made him a billionaire. Since then, WhatsApp has grown into one of the world’s most dominant messaging platforms, with more than 1.2 billion users worldwide. Koum’s departure follows fellow co-founder Brian Acton, who left in September — Acton caused a stir last month when he tweeted that everyone should #DeleteFacebook. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]
Recode Daily: Are air-cooled Porsches the new ‘more time with my family’?
Plus, Facebook opens its big F8 developer conference today; is the Snapchat redesign working?; and should T-Mobile be allowed to merge with rival Sprint?
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We’re not slowing down. That’s the message Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg intends to emphasize today as he opens Facebook’s big developer conference, F8, in San Jose. Despite spending the past six weeks in crisis dealing with the Cambridge Analytica data firestorm, angry users and looming regulation, Facebook is ready to move forward. And Zuckerberg, who always writes his own keynote speech for F8, may very well apologize, but he’ll also promise to keep on building. The show begins at 10 am PT; you can watch the livestream here. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]
If Facebook’s most recent data dustup has shown us anything, it’s that we cannot be legislated by the technically inept, says entrepreneur Om Malik, making the case for digital literacy for our elected representatives. Technology is now a fundamental part of society, and it impacts us on a daily basis. “Whether it is Facebook or scooters in San Francisco, you can’t govern or write smart laws if you don’t know anything about it.” [Om Malik / Om.co]
Is the Snapchat redesign working? That’s the most important question when Snap reports Q1 earnings after markets close today. It has been more than a year since Snap went public, and it delivered its first (and only) solid quarter this year when it reported better-than-expected Q4 revenue and user growth. A few things to look for: Has Snapchat’s user growth returned? And Snap isn’t close to profitable — how long can it continue to lose money? [Kurt Wagner / Recode]
Should T-Mobile be allowed to join forces with rival Sprint? On Sunday, the No. 3 U.S. mobile operator announced a long-delayed agreement to merge with Sprint in a $26 billion all-stock merger, which would shrink the mobile market to a Big Three of nationwide operators. The U.S. government effectively blocked AT&T’s 2011 attempt to acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion — because of its threat to the market’s competitiveness. So why would the government want to reduce competitiveness now by letting T-Mobile and Sprint merge? The merged entity called T-Mobile would still be smaller than AT&T or Verizon, btw. [Dan Frommer / Recode]
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