WhatsApp was initially founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, but in 2014, Facebook acquired the popular messaging app for $19 billion. Therefore, WhatsApp is currently owned by Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook.
WhatsApp is the most popular messenger platform in the world, reaching 2.75 billion users as of Q2 2023. Along with Instagram, Facebook, and, most recently, Threads, WhatsApp is a part of Meta’s expansive social media app portfolio.
In this article, we will examine WhatsApp’s ownership history and how much money it generates.
Key takeaways:
- WhatsApp, founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, was acquired by Facebook (now Meta Platforms) in 2014 for $19 billion.
- Meta’s stock surged by +370% post-WhatsApp acquisition in 2014, significantly boosting the company’s market value.
- Starting with 250,000 users in 2009, WhatsApp soared to 400 million by the end of 2013, attracting massive VC funding and surpassing other platforms.
- As of Q2 2023, WhatsApp had more than 2.7 billion monthly active users, more than any other messaging service.
- WhatsApp’s estimated 2022 revenue was approximately $906 million, mainly driven by WhatsApp Business, offering tools for business-client communication, and premium features generating substantial income.
Who owns WhatsApp? A look at ownership history
WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms (META), an international technology company founded by one of the richest individuals in the world, Mack Zuckerberg. Speaking purely from the stock price perspective, Meta benefited massively from the acquisition of WhatsApp – since the purchase went down in February 2014, the price of META increased by over +370% from roughly $71 to $335.
While WhatsApp is currently the largest messenger platform in the world, it was once just a small company, boasting about 250,000 users in 2009. By 2011, WhatsApp saw considerable growth due to outside investors like Sequoia Capital, and by February 2013, it had 200 million active users. By the end of that same year, WhatsApp surpassed 400 million active users.
In 2014, about a year after the company raised VC funds at a $1.5 billion valuation, Facebook announced its intention to buy the messaging platform for a whopping $19 billion. Early investors made bank with their investment in the company – Sequoia Capital, for example, reportedly made a 5,000% return on investment in WhatsApp.
As a part of the acquisition deal, Facebook paid $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares, and $3 billion in restricted shares to WhatsApp founders. Following the integration with Facebook, WhatsApp continued to grow and became the most used messaging service in the world, recording 2.75 billion active users as of June 2023.
WhatsApp’s timeline up to Meta acquisition:
- February 2009 – WhatsApp is founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, both of whom previously worked at Yahoo.
- August 2009 – WhatsApp 2.0 goes live on the Apple App Store, supporting push notifications. Number of users reaches 250,000.
- 2010 – WhatsApp declines multiple Google acquisition offers
- Early 2011 – WhatsApp becomes one of the most downloaded apps in the US
- February 2013 – The number of monthly active users reaches 200 milllion.
- April 2013 – WhatsApp receives $50 million in VC funding from Sequoia Capital at a valuation of $1.5 billion.
- December 2013 – The number of monthly active users reaches 400 million.
- February 2014 – Facebook (now Meta) purchases WhatsApp for $19 billion, the biggest acquisition of its kind to date.
How much money does WhatsApp make?
WhatsApp’s revenue is not publicly disclosed, but estimates suggest that it generated around $906 million in 2022.
The majority of WhatsApp’s revenue comes from WhatsApp Business, which is a freemium service that provides businesses with a range of tools for communicating with their customers. These tools include the ability to send messages, make calls, and create catalogs.
WhatsApp also generates revenue from premium features, such as the ability to send larger messages and files, and to use WhatsApp Business APIs.
WhatsApp Business reportedly generated $333.6 million in revenue in 2022. Source: Statista
The bottom line
WhatsApp has been one of the most successful companies of the last 15 years, and the acquisition by Facebook was definitely worth its hefty price tag. As of 2023, WhatsApp is by far the most popular messaging app (2.7 billion users), leading the second-placed WeChat (1.3B users) and Meta’s own Facebook Messenger (930M users).
If you’d like to explore different options to gain market exposure to the company, check out our article on how to invest in WhatsApp. If you are instead interested in learning more about the ownership structure of other prominent companies, check the articles below:
Source: https://coincodex.com/article/35653/who-owns-whatsapp/