Facebook purchased WhatsApp in February 2014 for $19 billion, and therefore it is quite logical to ask how is WhatsApp making its money?
This is a very bold move.
Like other bold moves, it might end up looking stupid, but it also might end up looking brilliant.
Do you know that there was a time when WhatsApp used to charge $1/year! Under this subscription model at one time, WhatsApp had 700 million users worldwide. Therefore, one can estimate its annual revenue of $700 million per year at that time.
The $19 billion acquisition of a company having just over 50 employees raised a lot of eyebrows and dropped a lot of jaws. Why would the social media giant invest so much on an app that doesn’t even charge for downloads anymore? Why would Facebook buy WhatsApp which doesn’t show any ads & has almost no source of income? The reasons are more than one.
Having that many active users, it is going to get you something fruitful eventually. With inter-linking with Facebook & Instagram, the app would return a lot more than just money. In Zuckerberg’s own words, “Once we get to being a service that has a billion, two billion, three billion people one day, there are many clear ways we can monetize”. After all, having founded the world’s best social media platform Facebook and having acquired world’s best photo sharing platform Instagram, it was time for Mr. Zuckerberg to acquire the world’s best instant messaging app. Combining all three of them.
For WhatApp business model, Read here.
Facebook recently reached the milestone of 2 bn active users. WhatsApp already has over a billion users, and again the features like stories, status updates, profile information and even your gender is a piece of information.
Focus here is WhatsApp. So other than what you chat, everything else is traced and is used to target ads on Facebook. WhatsApp will be free and ad-free forever, though Now Facebook is finally getting serious about monetizing WhatsApp with the recent launch of the WhatsApp for Business app.
so WhatsApp is now Facebook’s second-biggest property, followed by Messenger and Instagram. as it has changed the way people communicate. A lot of businesses depend on WhatsApp today.. so it's definitely The Best Facebook Purchase Ever.
Since you’re here … You must read WhatsApp Business Model: How does WhatsApp Make Money? Know How does WhatsApp Work
