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Let’s not forget that WhatsApp was an app that was profitable without ever showing ads or destroying its users’ privacy before being bought by Facebook. They b

Let’s not forget that WhatsApp was an app that was profitable without ever showing ads or destroying its users’ privacy before being bought by Facebook. They built up a massive user base while still charging several dollars for their app.

mtmail 6y ago
They charged only 1 US Dollar, after the first year. That was removed after the Facebook acquisition. https://www.cnet.com/news/whatsapp-kills-1-subscription-fee/ https://www.cnet.com/news/whatsapp-kills-1-subscription-fee/
- kiliancs 6y ago
  And this was never really enforced. I don't know anyone who paid for it.
  - hashbig 6y ago
    I remember when I paid the $0.99 after the first year a friend told me "if you uninstall the app and reinstall it, you get another year for free".
  - anshumankmr 6y ago
    My father was one of its earliest adopters, even before I was. He paid for it. I joined maybe sometime in 2012 or 2013. WhatsApp kept renewing my subscription for free. Also, fun fact, my first version of WhatsApp was on a Nokia phone... With the Symbian OS. We have really come a long way since then.
justapassenger 6y ago
Any source on them being profitable vs having revenue? IIRC they were very inconsistent in charging users, depending on the country, platform, time you signed up, etc.
- jcampbell1 6y ago
  They had roughly 6 employees and 20 beefy servers when they sold to Facebook. They were solidly profitable. Sort of wish they went the Craigslist route rather than taking Facebook billions.
  - MaxGabriel 6y ago
    I’m seeing 55 employees when I google
  - andrewbarba 6y ago
    This is very wrong. I worked as an intern at WhatsApp in 2013 and they had over 30 employees, a lot were actually customer support. And “customer support” doesn’t do it justice. Every feature shipped was translated across 30 languages and CS was made up of people who could do a lot of the translation in house as well as provide actual support. I was an engineer on the website that dealt with all the support articles and translation, but the platform teams were all two engineers per platform, and then the backend engineers who worked magic with erlang.
  - justapassenger 6y ago
    So, no source and you’re just guessing, based on no actual data?

mtmail 6y ago

They charged only 1 US Dollar, after the first year. That was removed after the Facebook acquisition. https://www.cnet.com/news/whatsapp-kills-1-subscription-fee/ https://www.cnet.com/news/whatsapp-kills-1-subscription-fee/

kiliancs 6y ago
And this was never really enforced. I don't know anyone who paid for it.
- hashbig 6y ago
  I remember when I paid the $0.99 after the first year a friend told me "if you uninstall the app and reinstall it, you get another year for free".
- anshumankmr 6y ago
  My father was one of its earliest adopters, even before I was. He paid for it. I joined maybe sometime in 2012 or 2013. WhatsApp kept renewing my subscription for free. Also, fun fact, my first version of WhatsApp was on a Nokia phone... With the Symbian OS. We have really come a long way since then.

justapassenger 6y ago

Any source on them being profitable vs having revenue? IIRC they were very inconsistent in charging users, depending on the country, platform, time you signed up, etc.

jcampbell1 6y ago
They had roughly 6 employees and 20 beefy servers when they sold to Facebook. They were solidly profitable. Sort of wish they went the Craigslist route rather than taking Facebook billions.
- MaxGabriel 6y ago
  I’m seeing 55 employees when I google
- andrewbarba 6y ago
  This is very wrong. I worked as an intern at WhatsApp in 2013 and they had over 30 employees, a lot were actually customer support. And “customer support” doesn’t do it justice. Every feature shipped was translated across 30 languages and CS was made up of people who could do a lot of the translation in house as well as provide actual support. I was an engineer on the website that dealt with all the support articles and translation, but the platform teams were all two engineers per platform, and then the backend engineers who worked magic with erlang.
- justapassenger 6y ago
  So, no source and you’re just guessing, based on no actual data?