' Exclusive: The Rags-To-Riches Tale Of How Jan Koum Built WhatsApp Into Facebook's New $19 Billion Baby.' At the peak under this model, it had about 700 million users worldwide yearly revenue could thus be estimated at $700 million per year at that time.įorbes. In some countries, the app used to cost about $1 to download in others, the first year is free, but each subsequent year costs $1 in other words, WhatsApp had a subscription model. The short answer used to be $1 at a time. Revenue in 2021 for WhatsApp was $8.7 billion.Meta eventually removed the $1 fee and made WhatsApp a free service, with the idea that consumers would communicate with businesses through it and businesses would pick up the cost.It cost $1 to download and then $1 a year going forward. The way WhatsApp used to make money was through a subscription model.Meta's second biggest property is now WhatsApp, after its Instagram and Facebook Messenger service.WhatsApp was founded in 2009 and bought by Meta (formerly Facebook) in 2014 for $19 billion.WhatsApp is a mobile app that allows users to message and call each other over the Internet.

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