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Facebook did not receive the fanfare they thought they would when they spent 22 billion dollars on the messaging app, WhatsApp last year, but today, they are laughing. The company not only leveraged their money, they have been able to double the number of users that the application has. News broke today that the numbers are upwards of 900 million users. That’s growth percentage of 50, and definitely something that analysts are going to be clamoring about when the stock exchange opens September 8, 2015.
The Billion Users
If that wasn’t a milestone worthy of news, then perhaps you should look at Facebook itself. The parent company just hit 1 billion users. That’s correct, a billion users are on Facebook and that is a number that has advertisers salivating over the possibilities. Of course, the company has their own built in network, but many are jumping on board the bandwagon to advertise to a network that very well could grow even larger.
Not So Fast
Just before you start jumping for stock, understand that WhatsApp has some detractors. The application has not really delivered in regards to a business model that could bring about revenue. The user base may be 900 million, but profits may not easily come to the application. The app is free right now, and costs .69 pounds for a subscription. Here’s the kicker, all 900 million users would have to buy a subscription if they wanted to profit on the user base. That’s not a longwinded plan for success, but it’s something to consider.
The Messaging World
Even though there are some detractors, it’s important to note that Facebook is a dominant force when it comes to messaging. Between themselves and WhatsApp, they control most of the communication marketplace as it stands for messaging apps. There’s no word as to how it compares to popular messaging application KIK, but suffice to say that Facebook messenger and the WhatsApp option combined could very well trump nearly every single application used to chat with. With a billion users on Facebook already, and 900 million users via their ownership of the messaging app, there’s no telling how the growth potential will increase.
At press time, Mark Zuckerberg went on record to express his excitement about the community, and the growth potential. That includes the financial bump that the company will no doubt take in the near future.
