Ted Livingston (Kik)
Ted Livingston | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1987 (age 38–39) |
| Alma mater | University of Waterloo |
| Occupations | Founder and CEO of Kik Messenger |
| Spouse | Christine Thayer [1] |
Ted Livingston (born 1987) is founder of Kik Messenger that provides mobile messaging service.[2][3]
Early life
Livingston was born in Toronto. As a child, Livingston had a passion for building Lego structures and automated machines in his basement. He continues following this interest on the school robotics team.[4]
From 1997 to 2005, Livingston attended the Crescent School, in Toronto.[5]
2005–Present: UWaterloo and Kik
Livingston took a mechatronics bachelor's degree at the University of Waterloo from 2005 to 2009[6] in order to "pursue his dream of building robots."[7] He participated in the Waterloo co-op program there, with placements at Honda and the City of Toronto government. Livingston eventually landed a co-op position as a system engineering project coordinator at Research in Motion.
In December 2007, eight months into his co-op, Livingston was promoted by Research in Motion to "Technical Product Management Coordinator".[5] In 2008, he turned down a full-time job to return to school at the advice of his manager.
Back at Waterloo, Livingston decided to take part in the Velocity program, a startup-focused community where he founded Kik Messenger instead of completing his degree.[6]
Kik now competes with Facebook and WeChat. At its peak in 2015 it boasted over 275 million registered users,[8] and it was used by approximately 40 percent of American teens.[9] In 2015 Chinese Internet giant Tencent invested $50 million into Kik. [10]
In 2014, Forbes placed him on their "Top 30 under 30" in their technology list.[11] In November 2015, Torontolife ranked Livingston at #20 on their "Toronto's 50 Most Influential,".[12]
References
- ^ "The canadian who wants to dethrone facebook". The Globe and Mail. 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
- ^ "One Of The Hottest Companies In Mobile: Interview With Kik's Ted Livingston". Forbes. 2014-01-22. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "Ted Livingston, 26 - In Photos: 2014 30 under 30: Technology". Forbes. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
- ^ "How Ted Livingston went from RIM Reject to Kik Starter". Toronto Star. 13 March 2016.
- ^ a b "Ted Livingston '05".
- ^ a b "Ted Livingston".
- ^ PATTY WINSA (March 13, 2016). "How Ted Livingston went from RIM reject to Kik starter". Toronto Star.
- ^ "Number of registered Kik Messenger users worldwide from November 2012 to February 2016 (in millions)".
- ^ "Kik Receives $50 Million Investment From Tencent".
- ^ "Tencent Invests $50 Million in Messaging App Kik".
- ^ "2014 30 UNDER 30: TECHNOLOGY 20 of 31". Forbes. Archived from the original on January 9, 2014.
- ^ "Toronto's 50 Most Influential: #20, Ted Livingston". 19 November 2015.