Viber
Messaging app founded by Talmon Marco, a former chief information officer of the IDF's Central Command; bought by Japan's Rakuten for $900m in 2014
| Viber
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Subsidiary of Rakuten |
| Founder(s) | Talmon Marco |
| Headquarters | Cyprus (2014) |
| Industry | Messaging and internet telephony |
| Parent | Rakuten (from 2014) |
Viber is a mobile messaging and calling application founded by the Israeli entrepreneur Talmon Marco. In February 2014 the Japanese company Rakuten agreed to buy it for $900 million (£540 million); the BBC reported that Viber was then based in Cyprus and had 300 million registered users.[1]
Founder and the IDF
The Guardian reported in 2013 that Talmon Marco "spent four years in the Israel Defence Forces, rising to chief information officer of the central command". It added that Marco "has himself been accused by at least one blogger of being an agent of the Israeli state", calling these "rather sketchy claims" that were "based on his military career".[2] Marco told the paper: "We never took a single dollar from the state of Israel, we are not even incorporated in Israel. We maintain a research and development centre in Israel and that's it." Viber then had 120 staff in Cyprus, Belarus and Israel.[2]
Unit 8200 claim
Interesting Engineering has stated that Viber has its "origins in Unit 8200", and that Talmon Marco and Avishai Abrahami of Wix "did their mandatory military service at or worked for Unit 8200".[3] The Guardian’s account of his service does not mention the unit, so the claim that Marco served in Unit 8200 is contested.[2]
See also
Notes
- ↑ Viber messaging app bought by Japan's Rakuten, BBC News, 14 February 2014, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Juliette Garside, Viber founder: 'People should be concerned about privacy', The Guardian, 30 August 2013, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Carmen Valache, Israel’s Unit 8200, a Conveyor Belt of High-Tech Startups, Interesting Engineering, 17 August 2020, accessed 21 October 2026.