Quite a few months back Facebook had announced its intention to purchase WhatsApp, one of the most popular cross-platform messaging service used by hundreds of millions of people around the world. A couple of days ago this acquisition was finally completed after review by regulators and now WhatsApp is officially owned by Facebook. Does the world’s largest social network have any plans of monetizing its new property? Apparently not in the near future.
Facebook Inc, which closed its acquisition of mobile messaging service WhatsApp on Monday, has no near-term plan to make money from the service, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday. Zuckerberg, who is visiting India to participate in an event to boost Internet usage, did not give details. Facebook’s final WhatsApp acquisition price tag has risen an additional $3 billion to roughly $22 billion because of the increased value of Facebook’s stock in recent months. WhatsApp works across different types of phones, across borders, and without advertising. The app only charges a 99 cent annual subscription fee, which is waived for the first year.