17-year-old creator of world's viral COVID-19 tracker refuses $8 million offer; Here is why

The world’s biggest Coronavirus tracker is run by a 17-year-old high schooler. In an interview, the teenager revealed why he refused $8 million for his website.
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Speaking to a news portal, Avi Schiffman revealed that this coronavirus tracker was now taking up 100% of his free time. Moreover, this 17-year-old owner of the world’s largest Coronavirus tracker has rejected $8 million and has refused to include ads in his website to preserve its UI.

Why Avi Schiffman refused $8 million to preserve his coronavirus tracker
Washington state-based teenager, Avi Schiffman, is now the owner of the world’s most used Coronavirus tracker. Avi Schiffman’s coronavirus tracker has over 30 million visitors per day and has a total of 700 million views. However, the 17-year-old has refused to add advertisements to his tracker.

Speaking to a news portal, Avi Schiffman revealed that he refused an offered of $8 million for the site. Moreover, he also stated that he could have earned $30 million by just putting up his own ads. However, Schiffman did not want to profit out of his coronavirus tracker. The teenager said that he was only 17 and did not need $8 million. He added that he did not want to be a profiteer.

Speaking about advertisements, Avi Schiffman revealed that the reason he did not add any was that he did not want to ruin his site’s UI. According to Schiffman, pop-ups would ruin the UI and experience, and he did not want to sell the site as doing so would remove his control over the Coronavirus tracker. He added that he did not want to be contractually obligated to run the site or make changes that he did not like.

Schiffman added that many of his users did not have a strong internet connection and adding advertisements would slow down the website’s coronavirus tracking function. However, Avi Schiffman did add a donation button to his website for those who wanted to support his endeavour. Further on, Avi Schiffman revealed that he did not want to leave a stain on things in the future.

Moreover, the 17-year-old has also received several job offers, including one from Microsoft. But he does not want to take up any offers right now, as he wants to pursue his own projects. Schiffman added that he was pleased by the connections he had made through this coronavirus tracker. Now that he knew a few investors and VCs, he could at least convince them to read his business plan.