WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum just sold $300 million worth of Facebook stock — but once he was living on food stamps (FB)

WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum just disposed of a lot of Facebook stock.

Earlier this week, he sold shares amounting to nearly $300 million.

Although the sale wasn't discretionary and was just meant to pay off the taxes on stock Koum received after selling his company, that's a lot of money (and makes the ~$160 million Marc Andreessen just sold look like small potatoes). 

But it's even more interesting in light of Koum's rags-to-riches history. 

Here's how Koum got where he is today:

SEE ALSO: Marc Andreessen has sold nearly 75% of his Facebook stock in two weeks

Koum's net worth is $8.8 billion, ranking him #3 on Forbes' list of America's richest entrepreneurs under 40.

Source: Forbes

But the CEO comes from humble beginnings. He was born in Ukraine in 1976, into a household without running water.

Source: Forbes.

Here's how he describes life in his hometown outside Kiev: "It was so run down that our school didn't even have an inside bathroom. Imagine the Ukrainian winter, -20°C, where little kids have to stroll across the parking lot to use the bathroom. Society was extremely closed off: you can read 1984, but living there was experiencing it."

Source: Wired