Today Facebook bought WhatsApp, a popular global messaging service, for $19 billion in cash and stock. Sorry, let me type that one more time just to make sure it’s right: $19 billion. Ugh… that will never sound real. OK, back to reality.
Naomi Branz designed WhatsApp’s first icon back in 2009 for a $100 fee, agreed upon before countless revisions and hours spent struggling to design for developer Jan Koum who was shrouded in secrecy and weirdness. When the project was finally finished, Koum offered to hire Branz again, but hoped to pay LESS than before, asking if they could “work out a better deal.” Branz declined, citing her estimated hours and freelance design rate. Koum is now worth $6.8 Billion, and Branz has since exhausted her $100 paycheck. SO, Jan Koum, Naomi Branz understandably would like to know: can you work out a better deal?
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