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Whatsapp had 700m+ monthly users in early 2015 [1] before they scrapped their subscription fee in early 2016 [2]. Whatsapp was free to use in some jurisdictions

Whatsapp had 700m+ monthly users in early 2015 [1] before they scrapped their subscription fee in early 2016 [2]. Whatsapp was free to use in some jurisdictions for the first year, so we can't assume there was $700m in revenue, but there was certainly enough to pay for 50 engineers you would think. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-passes-700-million-2015-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-passes-700-million-... [2] https://blog.whatsapp.com/making-whats-app-free-and-more-useful https://blog.whatsapp.com/making-whats-app-free-and-more-use...

vadfa 5y ago
Whatsapp only had a subscription fee for android users, and I don't know anybody who ever paid for it. They would keep giving you more and more free time; free subscription time would never run out. I imagine it ran out for some users, but I don't know what the criteria was. Perhaps for users in certain countries? Or for users with lots of iphone friends? On the other hand, iphone users had to pay for the app upfront to download it off the app store.