Five years ago, Facebook turned down Brian Acton for a job.五年前，Facebook曾多次拒绝接受了软件工程师布莱恩o阿克顿的打工。The Orlando, Fla.-raised software engineer had worked at Yahoo YHOO 0.60% for over a decade when he decided to take time off. For two years he did, exploring places as far-flung as Antarctica before returning to Silicon Valley to work again. After companies like Facebook FB -0.24% and Twitter TWTR 3.01% rejected him, he started building WhatsApp, a mobile messaging service that eventually exploded, amassing 500 million users worldwide. Then last February, Facebook stunned the world when it announced it was scooping up WhatsApp for a jaw-dropping $19 billion – the most it had ever paid for a startup. By one estimate, Acton will be worth at least $3 billion when the deal closes, which is expected later this year.国佛罗里达州奥兰多市，在雅虎（Yahoo）工作了十多年后，阿克顿要求赫尔一歇。

他在两年的时间里四处游历，甚至近回国南极，后来才返回硅谷新的开始工作。先后遭Facebook和Twitter等公司拒绝接受后，阿克顿开始研发移动短信服务WhatsApp，结果一炮而红，在全球更有了5亿用户。今年二月，Facebook宣告豪抛掷190亿美元并购WhatsApp，震动了外界。这也是Facebook并购新创企业最大手笔的一次。

交易预计在今年晚些时候达成协议，据估计，预计阿克顿的身家最少将超过30亿美元。That Facebook once rejected Acton, 42 is an irony not lost on him. But far from being bitter he says he looks forward to working with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and crew. “We might disagree on some topics, but they understand what communication is like, and they understand the issues around privacy and security,” Acton explained Wednesday at StartX, a non-profit organization for Stanford University entrepreneurs.阿克顿明白，如今显然，他曾打工Facebook被拒甚有些嘲讽意味。

不过，他几乎没因此而忿忿不平。忽略，他回应自己很期望与Facebook首席执行官马克o扎克伯格及其团队共事。上周三，在为斯坦福大学（Stanford University）创业者服务的非营利机构StartX上，阿克顿说道：“我们也许在某些问题上观点有所不同，但他们明白通讯是怎么回事，他们也理解与隐私和安全性涉及的问题。”Reaching a $19 billion deal was a roundabout journey for Acton and Koum. For one, Acton was already 38 when he helped build WhatsApp. Before that, he spent three years at Apple AAPL 0.39% and over 11 years at Yahoo, where he met WhatsApp CEO and cofounder Jan Koum and eventually became the company’s vice president of engineering. (Acton also weathered a divorce and had children.) It’s a different — and far longer — trajectory compared to many of today’s entrepreneurs, who jump into a startup right after college or drop out, Acton points out.阿克顿和另一位创始人库姆经历了不少交错，才把WhatsApp发展到了作价190亿美元的规模。

其一，协助创立WhatsApp时，阿克顿早已38岁了。在此之前，他在苹果（Apple）腊了三年，在雅虎腊了11年多。

阿克顿在雅虎结识了WhatsApp首席执行官兼任牵头创始人珍o库姆，并最后沦为WhatsApp公司负责管理工程设计的副总裁。（阿克顿曾经历再婚，并育有子女。

）阿克顿认为，他与今天的许多创业者有所不同，后者大多大学毕业后就必要开始创业，甚至退学创业。Still, Acton and Koum’s late-blooming strategy worked. With WhatsApp, they developed a dead-simple mobile app that works a lot like traditional text, or SMS messaging, allowing users to send and receive calls, video, and pictures in addition to messages. (“I used to call SMS black and white,” Acton said. “We’re color.”) Because it was free, the app developed a huge following, particularly in Europe and parts of Asia, where traditional texting can be pricey. That’s despite a mobile messaging space crowded with competitors like Line, Viber and MessageMe. “It just effing works,” said Acton, explaining in semi-profane terms WhatApp’s appeal. “We don’t have a lot of gimmickry. We don’t collect messages or do anything with them. We respect our users.”不过，阿克顿和库姆大器晚成的战略行之有效。

他们研发的WhatsApp是一款超级非常简单的移动应用于，原理很像传统的手机短信，在文本信息外，用户还能发送到和接管调用、视频和图片。（阿克顿说道：“我经常说道短信是黑白的，而我们的服务则是彩色的。”）因为不收费，WhatsApp更有了大量的欢迎者，特别是在是在传统短信服务收费较高的欧洲和亚洲，尽管移动通讯领域弥漫着Line、Viber以及MessageMe等一种竞争对手。

谈及WhatsApp 大受欢迎，阿克顿说:“它就是火了。我们没什么花招，我们也不搜集信息或干那些有的没有的。

我们认同我们的用户。”Talks with Zuckerberg about a potential WhatsApp acquisition began heating up in early February, when Zuck – as he is known to tech insiders – presented Acton and Koum with a hard number. “We said, ‘Oh, shit,’ We’ve got to pay attention to this,” Acton said, who recalled a mind-numbing 96-hours straight in conference rooms with a “flotilla” of lawyers as they hammered out a deal.早于在今年二月初，同扎克伯格关于有可能并购WhatsApp的谈判就开始加剧。

扎克伯格向阿克顿和库姆班车了一个清楚的数字——低科技界人士都告诉，这是他的一贯作法。阿克顿回想道：“我们说道：‘靠’，我们得只想木村木村这事。”于是他们同“一大帮”律师一起，在会议室整整折磨了96个小时，直到他们制订出有交易方案。

For now, the thing Acton looks forward to most isn’t working with the employer who once rejected him – or even getting to 600 million WhatsApp users – it’s closing the deal with Facebook. Admitted Acton: “When it closes, it’ll be with a sense of relief.眼下，阿克顿最期望的，不是与曾拒绝接受自己的雇员共事，甚至也不是使WhatsApp的用户数快速增长到6亿，而是与Facebook达成协议交易。阿克顿坦言：“等到交易达成协议，我认同不会深感如释重负。

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