Magazinnik Igor is an Israeli entrepreneur and programmer, one of the creators of the Viber messenger. He was born and raised in Nizhny Novgorod; at the time of his participation in public events in 2021–2022, he lived and worked in Israel.[2]
The Path into IT and the Creation of Viber
According to Magazinnik, the idea for the messenger grew out of a personal need: he and his team regularly used international communication, but the existing options — above all Skype — were inconvenient and drained the phone's battery quickly. WhatsApp, with its free messaging feature, and Skype were already on the market; Telegram had not yet appeared. The team built an app that let people call and message for free through the phone book — and it worked.[2] Earlier still, following a similar logic of "personal pain," Magazinnik took part in creating the iMesh file-sharing network, born from the desire to listen to favorite music for free.[1]
In its first years, Viber did not pay for itself: the team tried to monetize the product through paid sticker packs and incoming-call recognition, but without advertising they could not reach profitability.[1] When outside funding became necessary, the company entered negotiations with Japan's Rakuten in search of an investor, but Rakuten unexpectedly offered to buy the whole business. The deal went through for roughly $900 million; Magazinnik described it as "rather strange," since selling the company had not been the plan originally.[1][2] In 2015, he left Viber.[1]
Later Projects
After Viber, Magazinnik took part in the launch of the taxi service Juno. He then co-founded, together with colleagues, the technology incubator PentaLab, focused on supporting early-stage startups.[2]
Connection to Nizhny Novgorod
Magazinnik was born and spent his childhood in Nizhny Novgorod: he lived in the Kanavinsky District on Moscow Highway and attended School No. 121.[2] In 2021, he became one of the first speakers of the educational lecture series "NEYMARK" — a project created as part of the preparations for the launch of the IT campus named after the Nizhny Novgorod mathematician Yuri Neimark. The talk took place at the Rekord Cultural Center as a video conference; Magazinnik answered students' questions on the topic "Where the Path to $1 Billion Begins" and expressed a wish to visit his school in person.[2]
Sources
- Nizhegorodskiye Novosti — Igor Magazinnik Explains How to Earn a Billion Dollars
- Komsomolskaya Pravda — Nizhny Novgorod — Viber's Creator Talks About His Childhood in Nizhny Novgorod and How He Accidentally Sold His Messenger