Is WhatsApp, Facebook’s Biggest Acquisition, Paying Off A Decade Later?

Facebook, now called Meta, acquired WhatsApp for a historic $19 billion in 2014. Today, over half of the world’s internet users also use WhatsApp, but the free messaging service has never generated much revenue. Now though, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that he views WhatsApp as Meta’s “next chapter” when it comes to monetization.
CNBC spoke with WhatsApp Head of Product Alice Newton-Rex, who said that WhatsApp’s emerging business messaging services will drive revenue growth, as companies pay a fee to interact with customers on the platform. But it remains to be seen whether business messaging through WhatsApp will take off, as the current market is dominated by regular SMS messaging. And that future is especially unclear in the U.S., where WhatsApp has struggled to gain traction.
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
01:57 - History of WhatsApp
04:55 - Monetization
08:00 - What’s next
Produced and Shot by: Katie Brigham
Edited by: Nic Golden Henry
Additional Reporting: Jonathan Vanian
Additional Camera: Sydney Boyo, Andrew Evers
Graphics: Jason Reginato
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Additional Footage: WhatsApp, Meta, Lauren Choo, Getty Images
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Is WhatsApp, Facebook’s Biggest Acquisition, Paying Off A Decade Later?

[@joe_lubinda]

Almost every African who has a smartphone has this app that's why in our countries it doesn't matter if you use iPhone or android.

[@fabio2000k]

Not just Africa, Latin America and Europe too. It has big potential

[@user-gw8nb8wr3n]

😂

[@DG-hw8it]

Some use Japanese Viber in Europe as an alternative to WP...🌻

[@PikaChu_O.o]

the whole world except North America

[@Psycandy]

basically WA took off globally but not in the US, so Meta don't know what to do with it. Originally the idea was to track FB users to include those routines within FB profiling to add a predictive spend tier to the ads, only that requires US FB users to universally adopt WA and twitter beat them to it. Unlike Insta, you can't pump WA full of ads without the focus of FB profiling and the lack of adoption in the US made the offline FB user tracking redundant, which is why WA remains in limbo.

[@littledudefromacrossthestr5755]

Good analogy

[@maxjames00077]

Meta knows what to do with it. Grow it to the point where the whole world (beside China) uses it and then find ways to make money, like they are doing. They were the fasting growing company in history and focused a lot on FB and IG for the past years. WA their moat is insane outside of the US. We all use it every day. Even 90 year olds use it. They bought it because they knew it was gonna be big and they make already 10bn a year in using it as a click to message ads. I'm curious how big Mark will grow this app.

[@lonyo5377]

It was bought to stop it being a competitor to other Facebook products. Success achieved

[@A1stardan]

They literally tried to pull off a stunt in changing privacy policy in a week and told everyone you can stop if you don't agree. Govts had to interfere to make them stop

[@BlueRose13.]

Good story bro

[@FernandoFonseca1]

In Mexico even taco trucks serve customers on whatsap...... Taxi services could be contacted to ask to bring food to you (UBER eats kind) much cheaper than food services like Rappi or Uber, the taxi service would charge you for picking your food up at a place, pay for your food and bring it to your place, as if you were in the food stand and call a taxi to take you home.

[@ChrisChris-yr2mq]

Don't you realize, they will become the customer also. Do you understand what this means, no need for humans.

[@RagingBad]

​@@ChrisChris-yr2mqhuh?

[@bogdanisari4365]

In Spain is the principal communication platform

[@SurfAndTravel]

what'sapp is mostly for third world countries

[@bogdanisari4365]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 Tell me you are an American without telling me that you are an American.

[@EIonMusk1]

@@bogdanisari4365 truth hurts, USA runs your world lol

[@LAT4MTV]

Not only in Spain. Worldwide.

[@AndersonBakerKonig]

@@LAT4MTV yes mostly poor countries

[@sausageandbeanmelt4634]

The guy at 1:05 just picked a random number in the billions...

[@rob0to_ytb]

🤣🤣

[@busam1578]

I love What’s App it’s so beneficial to countries with no free messaging. Please never change.

[@stingus]

There are waaaaay better alternatives. Telegram is number one.

[@mikhelBrown]

​@@stingusTelegram is flooded with Scammers. Lool

[@NataEna4]

Here is also App

[@rgbaal]

Almost all countries have "free" messaging - the no free messaging bit was very out of date. By 'free' I mean 5-6000 messages per month per account.

[@David-wc5zl]

"no free messaging". This is not reality. There's dozens of apps, Meta can't be trusted.

[@mysteriousu5528]

One of the two men who supports signal app, a non profit messenger app, who originally started and built the what's app. They weren't not making money as they were far security and privacy. They later sold the company to Zuck.

[@eljangoolak]

Big money always wins in the end

[@sayrith]

[Citation needed.]

[@abrahamdsl]

Huh? Citation for that?

[@user-tt6sq1ft1m]

They make money ripping off your personal data.

[@panagiotisfollas1799]

but nobody is listening. :(

[@ToonShader]

How, if it is encrypted

[@esausello8807]

when Zack bought it he compromised data encryption @@ToonShader

[@agus_albrz4242]

Well, no one cares about your boring life 😂 so your personal data is safe

[@MusehanaH]

@ToonShader, 🤦‍♀️

[@codedxxx]

When Meta gets too greedy with this, count me out.

[@SouoLuizfromBR]

I'm From Brazil and even a homeless has whats up over here ! it's a hit in brazil.

[@DJAYPAZ]

The reducing diversity of social media platforms coupled with increasing corporate problems of unauthorised information sharing are significant problems face the industry. Lack of competition is never a good thing.

[@gohansaiyan]

No mention of Signal, the private messaging app?

[@maxjames00077]

WA is encrypted as well. Never heard of Signal before btw

[@superiortoall22]

@@maxjames00077Signal is big with us government employees; we consider WhatsApp’s encryption not as secure

[@quisqueyanguy120]

Signal is mostly used in the US.

[@shivam_nagar69]

tele is extremely popular in india, we use WP and Tele both, at least i do@@weird-guy

[@shivam_nagar69]

youtube is no better these days, but we still use it@@maxjames00077

[@carolynbrzezinski5779]

Meta saying the quiet part out loud: first, we will get you hooked, then we start monetizing it! 😡

[@PHlophe]

Carolyne and this is on top of selling data to brokers. which i nver joined FB not its other products.

[@sayrith]

Yeah. We’re called “users” not “customers”. You know who else uses those terms? Drug dealers. Just sayin

[@PHlophe]

@@sayrith no cap !

[@okene]

​@@weird-guyUber isn't profitable, never has been

[@Mntrmaheffa]

​@@PHlopheas if KZbin and Google isn't selling your data. Meta and Google operate exactly the same way.

[@James-sz2hr]

its paying off in data mining.

[@maxjames00077]

No, its fully encrypted 😂

[@HumanBeingsRThinkingBeings]

Mind Begs the Question: Pegasus - Hacks into Android,iOS Google,Apple - design Android,iOS Google,Apple - If leave door open,dont fix Google,Apple - not culpable,criminal?

[@bendover-bz4bc]

Well thats how free stuff works

[@salaadino]

​@bendover-bz4bc Nothing is free

[@SahajSingh]

​​@@maxjames00077they can still get information like who your friends are based on phone numbers, names of chats, names of groups, if you use the status feature - that data is entirely shared with Meta. So it can help them associate your identity to your interests on FB. Basically the idea is to profile you better do ads can be targeted better. They just want you to buy more crap 😅 What they don't get is the content of your chats, but outside of that, everything else is shared.

[@SahajSingh]

Curious why RCS wasn't brought up when talking about upcoming tech around sending phone number based messages? MMS is a dated protocol and will likely be subsumed by RCS.

[@salamista]

There were several mistakes and omissions in this report in general. MMS is definitely supported outside of North America, the whole Europe has it, although just like in the US it's irrelevant there now. Line is not only big in Japan but also Tahiland and Taiwan. (these two mistakes from top of my head)

[@123machet]

Australia has MMS too, most people just find messaging apps easier@@salamista

[@juniorpop1962]

Every platform has and uses our data

[@AndersonBakerKonig]

meta is the worst

[@realVampyToast]

Signal only collects your phone number in order to provide the service, and Session collects nothing at all so theirs alternative messaging apps out there that are more private.

[@bendover-bz4bc]

Don't use the app then. As simple as that

[@shivam_nagar69]

a person who accepts he is the bad guy vs the person who hides it is more dangerous@@AndersonBakerKonig

[@YasinHasan]

@@AndersonBakerKonig thats why they have the best apps, they know how to use those data

[@MrHammer2088]

What's app should incorporate the keypad to allow dialing and calling any number from any where

[@XOPOIIIO]

I'm glad I bought Meta stock for about $100 when everybody was scared away from it.

[@RealShaktimaan]

I almost pulled the trigger but didn't click buy. Still regretting it

[@Mcfunface]

​@@RealShaktimaanYou still made the right choice. If you took the same money and put it into Amazon you still would've made a 65% profit in the same timeframe, except it was a ton safer bet

[@XOPOIIIO]

@@RealShaktimaan Don't regret past experiences, for they are seeds of your knowledge.

[@sausageandbeanmelt4634]

@XOPOIIIO The person who sold to you probably bought at $50...

[@eudofia]

Good for you. Mine was the opposite. I bought Meta stock at the height of the Metaverse hype. $350 per share, only the next day for the earning call to disappoint and the stock dropped like a rock. Have pared back some of the losses but I'm still down.

[@aoncars]

You didn't mention Skype as the first to be popular as an alternate to phone calls

[@mahir8126]

Because it was not an alternative to phone calls. In that sense Yahoo Messenger was the first.

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

After talking about sms, they should have mentioned rcs.

[@cai0]

Yeah, makes a lot more sense than mentioning mms even

[@davidvest5628]

I think Meta is actually doing well. Regardless of the controversies

[@johnnyellis8928]

what makes you say that ?

[@davidvest5628]

@@johnnyellis8928 Haha, didn"t think people will pick interest , anyways i said what i said based on the fact that Meta stocks which i have been watching for a while now is on the rise and i have made some gains since i acquired it

[@johnnyellis8928]

@@davidvest5628 Oh, Good for you buddy! i wanted to get some of those stocks some years ago but due to covid and also i was skeptical . i left it

[@maxjames00077]

Yeah i dollar cost averaged into Meta, my lowest buy was 95 ish, was a good buy :P Didn't sell yet, the company keeps doing better. Threads looks good too

[@SirFaceFone]

Was hoping the antitrust issue would get a mention.

[@LionGym247]

HATER

[@ehanoldaccount5893]

The consumer always loses.

[@RagingBad]

​@@LionGym247sheep

[@magiclovelinu7234]

Thinking deep and overthinking is a fine line and a balance. decision making is a fine line.

[@user-bw8fj4pv9i]

I am from America. I am really happy to see your work to expose people like this on web and make awareness among people. I had already shared this *GRIND TECHIEI* to all my foreign friends and ask them to share to others. Thank you again please keep the good work!

[@Redmenace96]

The main advantage is that it messages, no matter what country you are in. I work and travel internationally. Can still message when I change numbers and sim cards. SMS messages change your account ID and Number every time you flip sim cards? Americans just don't travel very much. I think it can be very successful without cracking the U.S. consumer market.

[@JatinV1]

Companies messaging apps in whats app feels very personal, they need to stop

[@Mr.Anders0n_]

😂🤣

[@Mahlak_Mriuani_Anatman]

Huh? I don't get it

[@siphiweparker6178]

WiFi is not the Internet. You can be connected to WiFi but not Internet

[@bendover-bz4bc]

We got Sherlocks here

[@SahajSingh]

Unfortunately, to most people, WiFi is the same as Internet. Most people are not technical and don't know the difference.

[@jeremiahtheofarr2022]

That's incredible and rewarding,

[@heldercaze6333]

Fun fact: one of principal facebook co-founders is a brasilian.

[@koshobai]

Brazilian pride is funny. Anyway didn't he go on to create Quora?

[@LuccaPCesar]

​@@koshobaiI'm curious, why it's funny?

[@koshobai]

@@LuccaPCesar I lived in Brazil and find it to be amazing. No other culture has as much of a brotherhood feel. It's a very good thing. However, only Brazilians enjoy these kinds of fun facts. Anyone else would find the mention of a cofounder's country of origin to be too off-topic, unless it was very, very clear how the fact related to the context. With love from Japan!

[@LuccaPCesar]

Oh, I see, I don't even think it's true that a co-founder was brazilian, but I guess it is funny, have a great one friend.

[@Blazerelf]

Meta has a better shot to be the next wechat everything app than X

[@notsureyet2200]

EW

[@ecoideazventures6417]

Insightful thought, but that's a scary thought!

[@mutyalammapalemps892]

The problem is they don't act simply as a platform but intervene

[@badtoro]

I only use it to communicate with off shore it support at work

[@kopyrit3]

I like the idea of a what's app business website!

[@pommy7560]

When you got something services "for free" you are the product.

[@thztan7492]

Nice analysis

Advertising needs to be much easier and cheaper for startups. Such measures could inspire youth creativity and reduce unemployment.

[@ChrisChris-yr2mq]

Don't you realize, they will become the customer also. Do you understand what this means, no need for humans. This is the beginning of the end for humans.

[@chris12321222]

Bring it to iPad already!!

[@shamimahmed4758]

I think meta should develop apps to call and messages from one apps to another apps not only same platform

[@kezianobleson4805]

Stupid idea. API costs would be ENORMOUS

[@son9524]

The EU Digital Markets Act is looking to implement forced interoperability across messaging & calling platforms, but not sure how feasible it is without heavy trade-offs on encryption, and overall privacy/security.

[@maxjames00077]

​@@son9524the EU needs to stop wasting so much energy on bs like this. Same with the usb c chargers for Apple. Is that really what is important in this world rn..

[@maxjames00077]

Why on earth would we want or need that. There is plenty of options already. Just pick the ones u like to use

[@fynkozari9271]

One apps? Why plural?

[@pb.j.1753]

What are Android users using to text in the USA?

[@freshbundle9929]

@2:50 mark She says back in 2009 if you wanted to make an international call it might set you back hundreds of dollars. How long was she on the phone ? Was she using a satellite phone? Ridiculous embellishment.

[@PHlophe]

30 min depending on the country and from a mobile phone. because from a landline it was always just a wee bit cheaper

[@PHlophe]

@@weird-guy at home , not on the phone. most phones were not equipped for skype use

[@mojabaka]

You don't have to be connected to wifi to make international calls, mobile internet works as well.

[@maxjames00077]

Yeah!

[@taridean]

Your monthly mobile internet data allowance plays a part. Over here in the UK it's free to make an international call on WA through wifi. You can call via mobile internet, but once you exceed your monthly data allowance, you will be charged per megabyte.

[@wolfpack6026]

CNBC is my favourite businessnews media, always so interesting 🤗🤗🤗🤩🤩🤩🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@shmookins]

How much does it cost to run such messaging apps?

[@YA-vl8jh]

Millions and millions a year just on server costs. Plus more millions on salaries and other company costs

[@rfalways8278]

I'm living in Viet Nam & have been using WA for years, though not many of my friends do it. Don't know that WA has many other features introduced in the vdo. I think it's an interesting long-term investment from FB.

[@TheVirtualArena24]

Yeah selling of user's data always pays

[@RealShaktimaan]

If they asked the customer to pay for their service then they would uninstall it. So this is the alternative.

[@TheVirtualArena24]

@@RealShaktimaan you think doing this without the customer knowing is good? They earns through ads tho if you don't know in case.

[@iqbals5684]

​@@TheVirtualArena24well ...kinda who cares at this point tbh, every tech companies collects your data even Apple.

[@TheVirtualArena24]

@@iqbals5684 well I care.

[@LAT4MTV]

​@@iqbals5684I know right. People like to feel that they are privileged for using an American device made of non-Americans chips.

[@pakru92]

I prefer telegram. Much more functionality and features.

[@andrekruger135]

Definitely

[@scientia8442]

Not worth it. No end-to-end encryption.. plus Telegram is indifferent to hate and Nazi speech in public channels.

[@maxjames00077]

They serve a different purpose imo. Like discord. Those 2 are messaging apps but u dont have ur family and work people there. WA dominates the world by tenfold there. Its simple and easy.

[@kotenoklelu3471]

Telegram is great

[@Play4Vida]

Naw, too many hackers... that app is weak

[@ryanwoody77]

Right direction in businesses and customers interaction. Build AI encryted customer service instead of expensive call centers.. subscription based news or magazines content. As long as dun feed things to users that they do not want, let the customers take the initiative 😊

[@ChrisChris-yr2mq]

Don't you realize, they will become the customer also. Do you understand this means, no need for humans.

[@David-wc5zl]

LOL. You have no control over anything Meta. This is not a moral or good company. Their business model of data harvesting should be illegal.

[@SQERDOMOONLIGHT]

AI customer service LOL. Customer service is for when the AI does NOT work

[@hander__s]

i understand more now why he's willing to pay 300k-600k CPU for their AI

[@adamoconnor8958]

What's ... app?

[@user-pe3tt7iu7g]

People working at Meta are so unimaginative if this is as advanced the app is after a decade.

[@mikecairnduff]

Haha, good call. I'd say they're scared about making any drastic changes as it could turn customers away.

[@goo1358]

What app is used by low income groups. You cannot built a 5 star restaurant in a poor community

[@fenix_storm8575]

Then what messenging app is mostly used in the US

[@ncialone]

iMessage

[@RealShaktimaan]

​@@ncialone50%

[@shaclo1512]

iMessage

[@SurfAndTravel]

iMessage is best

[@EIonMusk1]

iMessage is best

[@SergeiSudakov]

Channels? Payments? Nice job Meta.. you are creating something that Telegram has for years

[@armuk]

no one outside eastern europe uses telegram

[@OVYEDDeno]

they don't know they can do this for free on twitter

[@DANNYEL20122]

In Nigeria we had 2go..

[@JinNani224]

I don’t see it taking off in the states or Japan or Korea. Apple hates Facebook and those countries are heavy iPhone and they have their own service

[@megamix5403]

Japan has LINE Korea has Kakao Talk America has stupidity

[@r3dp1ll]

Still no way in 2023 to edit a message.

[@yourdream5172]

you're the product

[@cwaddle]

Business messaging sucks. Nearly always the ai cant solve ur problem but it will take a whole day to reach a human customer service. By then u are probably sleeping or moved on

[@dennyxiao02]

that app in China is called Wechat

[@eltonlu6723]

Hate sms messaging. I don’t keep phone numbers when living abroad

[@helpme100]

Data tracking inevitable

[@theancientsancients1769]

What'sapp was just a copy of AOL or MSN or Yahoo instant messengers and brought to the phone

[@Obsidian-Nebula]

What? Which countries doesn't have MMS?

[@george_anak_lihi]

0:05 good luck

[@marwanbnzayd]

if the service is free, you're the product

[@joelinarodriguez5074]

As soon as a business talks to me through WA, I stop trusting the business

[@4everchill3]

Yooooo this is big😮

[@baakyashotit]

They forgot to mention RCS

[@africanpointofview4265]

The US is always behind.. I'm 30 and never ever used a cheque.. Since my 1st bank account in 2007 money was exchanged in minutes.. By 2015 things became contactless and by 2012 money was exchanged in seconds.. Now if you send me money and 2 seconds pass without getting a ping on my phone we both panic

[@___beyondhorizon4664]

In Columbia, China, I refused to used this, I'm also refused FB, Tweeter. I turned off my phone notifications when I m not available.

[@Muzammil.S]

Switch to Telegram and Nostr

[@portalkey5283]

Viber?

[@walkerpaulp6526]

Lot of information love you CNBC and you too Katie

[@reckitt9173]

Its a surveillance chat application.

[@JB-ej2qy]

It’s the next we chat

[@Drew-Speare]

I hate the app! An still have to use it cause of family members. If it was up to just me they could shut it down cause I don’t trust Meta and that just my opinion.

[@maxjames00077]

Yet u do trust Google on youtube 😂They do it even more mate

[@Drew-Speare]

@@maxjames00077 🤣🤣 an the truth is I don’t trust nothing google

[@RamonMcNally]

No mention of telegram. 😂

[@maxjames00077]

Bc Its a joke compared to WA.

[@JJN631]

The video is about what app

[@Joshtravel]

How would you know how many people text if it’s encrypted????

[@maxjames00077]

Encrypted means they or anyone else can't see what's in the message. They can still see how many messages are sent each day, they just can't read them.

[@wagmi_dude]

sms and mms? are you sure you live in 21 century? I have not used sms in years, I only accept them from utility companies. Everyone uses more or less private chat encrypted apps.

[@WiseGuy02]

They want to read your messages and use the info. That's why a lot of people dumped them for Signal. Then they backed off that idea. For now.

[@supermodelatlanta1354]

I'm sorry what was the answer to the question

[@farsimac]

the way meta planning , it seems like huge business oportunity for meta as well as small businesses

[@frankodilon5807]

It made its profit a long time ago

[@Fortyq]

0 words about Telegram? Wow, that's quality journalism! Keep up good work!

[@shuki1]

I use Telegram daily mainly for its channels since Facebook sucks now for that kind of usage. WA got too complacent.

[@kushardyanto2561]

This whole video is basically an ad bro ofc Telegram wont be mentioned😂

[@thetaomega7816]

Telegram is spyware trash lmao

[@bashirmohammed6736]

When a service is free, you’re the product.

[@innateseed]

😂😂😂

[@HBOSTUDIOS]

Session, Bchat and Zangi are also good alternatives!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@sa3270]

Which app?

[@derickndossy]

Talk about TELEGRAM

[@AndreRicardoSilva-sq7yx]

Thank you!

[@_DarkKnight]

I just prefer Signal

[@albex8484]

shouldnt we start making apps that just run and dont have to have revenue? It's so simple, that you can wonder why this should earn much money.

[@sayrith]

Ah hell no this better not be a “western” WeChat. Distribute services. Not concentrate them. That’s the original purpose of the internet.

[@quantum3246]

Not secure.

[@babatunda1849]

Apple needs to make I message better

[@h.b.1457]

Не теште себя надеждами, что российский Continental такой же по качеству, что немецкий! Отездил на немецком PremiumContact 5 четыре сезона и радовался, купил такие же но рос производства. Шина визуально даже отличалась, более тяжелая. Выехал из шиномонтажа и офигел. Машина плавает, разгоняется тупее. Пришлось перекачать на 0,2 атм, чтоб хоть меньше плавала машина. И расход на 1,5 литра вырос. После этого зарекся покупать made in russia.

[@Mr.Anders0n_]

Grote vogels vliegen overdag naar het westen en 's avonds naar het zuiden. Ik zeg woorden, meer woorden dan jij. Woorden betekenen groot. Grote klaproos huilt met 23,4 dcm. Vraag mij niet waarom. Vraag het aan de bol.

[@liang-hsuanma2378]

so what's the difference between WA and Messenger

[@fty-ys4ni]

Basically just the way it’s packaged

[@Play4Vida]

​@@fty-ys4nino.

[@Play4Vida]

Has more functionalities, it's more convenient to share anything...anything.

[@nikyabodigital]

Telegram needs to catch up

[@Play4Vida]

They need to better their security, to easy to hack.

[@uplink-on-yt]

And then, in walks RCS

[@quasheekamiller]

Friday September 1, 2023 8:57 p.m. est

[@kittiemamba]

omg… where will sinch go?

[@shashankdudhe6972]

Transactions of Money through social media application is a bad idea, unless Batman does the Surveillance of Masses.