4 ms·
We don't sell ads but we are selling ourselves so you can sell ads in the future.
by hhjj 6y ago
We don't sell ads but we are selling ourselves so you can sell ads in the future.
- amateurdev 6y agoI doubt that was the intent at the time. Sure they'd be looking for ways to monetize, but could the co-founder in 2012 have predicted what FB as an entity would become ~10 years later?
- jedberg 6y agoFacebook was making money from ads when they sold WhatsApp to FB. They had to know that was the plan. I don't fault them for selling, I fault everyone else for assuming it would always be ad free after the sale.
- andi999 6y agoWell, if it would been a free app, OK. But one did pay for this feature, isn't it. So I want my dollar back.
- landhar 6y agoThat's a fair point in general, but I think that by the time FB acquired whatsapp the writing was in the wall and I feel that the founders probably knew where things were headed. This is the timeline as I recall it (and from quickly googling a couple of articles), feel free to correct me if I'm getting things wrong: 2012: this article 2014: FB acquires whatsapp 2016: Whatsapp becomes free (drops the $1 purchase fee) 2018: Jan Koun and Brian Acton leave FB
- lotsofpulp 6y agoYes, if someone offers to pay you $20B for your chat app, it’s not out of charity. I’m not blaming them for selling out for $20B, I would have done the same. But I won’t believe they didn’t know what was going to happen.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- martin-adams 6y agoIf WhatsApp had no users, they wouldn't have been worth much. They didn't sell ads, they sold all their users.