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> Its peak revenue, disclosed by Facebook at the time of acquisition, was ~$1.5 million/year

Not sure where you got that number, but in 2013 (before aquisition) they reported ~$10 million in revenue. (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000132680114...)

They brought in $15 million in the first half of 2014. (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000132680114...)

They only had 55 employees at acquisition.

They might not have become a unicorn... but there most definitely was a path to profitability.



This was my source - https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/04091... (which points to that same document but somehow draws a different conclusion).

Also that document shows a net loss of $230 million in that same period, so not exactly on a strong path to profitability.


Thanks! Looks like they link Facebook's 10Q filing. Can't tell how they arrived at the number though.

I agree that their losses were surprisingly high at the time... especially given how lean their engineering team and operations were supposed to be. (https://blog.whatsapp.com/1-million-is-so-2011/?lang=en)


does show though that if they could get all 500 million to pay just that $1 a year, they've got $270 million profit.


- 30% goes straight to Apple/Google.

- A large chunk of the world (especially people in developing countries) will be unwilling to pay anything more than $0.

- Even if they want to pay, most of those users won't have a payment method set up. How many of their 2 billion+ users have a credit card or even a bank account?




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