WhatsApp Co-founder Jan Koum Gifts Record $200 Million to Jerusalem Hospital

Jan Koum, who co-created WhatsApp and later became a billionaire after its $19 billion sale to Meta, has announced a $200 million donation to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center via the Koum Family Foundation. The funds will support the construction of a 24-story expansion covering over 1.5 million square feet, featuring new operating rooms and an emergency department, and will lead to the hospital being renamed Koum Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

This donation eclipses the $180 million gift previously given by Shmuel and Anat Harlap to Rabin Medical Center’s “Tower of Hope.” Koum’s early life saw him and his mother arrive from Kyiv, Ukraine, at age 16, living on government assistance in Mountain View, California, before he entered the tech industry, eventually founding WhatsApp with Brian Acton after stints at Yahoo. The philanthropist described the gift as a vote of confidence in future medical innovation for Israel and the world.