How WhatsApp earns Money Secret Business Model of WhatsApp Dhruv Rathee Dhruv Rathee WhatsApp s Founding and Early Success WhatsApp s Business Model Evolution Facebook s Acquisition of WhatsApp WhatsApp s Shift to a Free Service WhatsApp Business API and Revenue Model WhatsApp Pay and Payment Services WhatsApp s Future and Data Controversies WhatsApp s Business Model Evolution In 2009 Brian Acton and Jan Koum two former Yahoo employees founded WhatsApp with a simple mission to provide a free reliable and user friendly messaging app The app quickly gained popularity and by 2014 it had reached 450 million monthly active users The Early Days Subscription Based Model Initially WhatsApp adopted a subscription based model where users paid an annual fee of 0 99 to use the service This approach allowed the company to generate revenue while keeping the app free from advertisements Quote We re not interested in showing ads We re interested in making a great product Jan Koum Co Founder of WhatsApp The Shift to Free Data Driven Decision In 2016 WhatsApp dropped its subscription fee making the app completely free to use This decision was driven by data which showed that many users were unable to pay the annual fee due to various reasons such as lack of credit card access or insufficient funds Anecdote In an interview Brian Acton revealed that during a trip to Indonesia he met a user who couldn t afford the subscription fee This encounter made him realize that the fee was a significant barrier to growth The New Business Model WhatsApp for Business In 2018 WhatsApp introduced WhatsApp for Business a separate app designed for small businesses and enterprises This move marked a significant shift in the company s business model as it began to focus on generating revenue through business to consumer B2C interactions Code Sample WhatsApp for Business API example import requests api url https graph facebook com v13 0 messages access token your access token def send message phone number message payload messaging product whatsapp recipient type individual to phone number type text text body message headers Authorization f Bearer access token Content Type application json response requests post api url json payload headers headers return response json The Benefits of WhatsApp for Business WhatsApp for Business provides companies with a secure and reliable way to interact with customers offering features like verified business profiles quick replies and messaging metrics Hand Drawn Plot WhatsApp Free v WhatsApp for Business B2C v Revenue B2C Interactions The Future of WhatsApp s Business Model As WhatsApp continues to evolve its business model is likely to focus on expanding WhatsApp for Business exploring new revenue streams and improving the overall user experience Step by Step Calculation 1 WhatsApp s user base grows by 10 annually 2 The company introduces a new feature allowing businesses to send messages to customers at a rate of 0 01 per message 3 Assuming an average business sends 10 000 messages per month the revenue generated would be 10 000 messages month 0 01 message 100 month With 1 million businesses using WhatsApp for Business the total revenue would be 100 month 1 000 000 businesses 100 000 000 month This hypothetical scenario demonstrates the potential for WhatsApp s business model to generate significant revenue through B2C interactions