Newly Facebook-Owned, WhatsApp, Lost Roughly $200 Million in 2 Years

Several Months Ago, Facebook Acquired Messaging Startup, WhatsApp, for a Whopping $16 Billion, plus an Additional $3 Billion for its Founders and Small Staff. On Tuesday, Facebook Announced that, in 2012 and 2013, WhatsApp Lost a Combined $192.8 Million. (WhatsApp Famously has No Advertising and its Current Revenue Model is to Make Money Off Annual Subscription Fees.) Facebook also Disclosed for the First Time How it Arrived at that $16 Billion Purchasing Figure: $15.3 Billion of that was Simply Wrapped Up in the Nebulous Accounting Term: “Goodwill”. "We're the most atypical Silicon Valley company you'll come across", Brian Acton, a WhatsApp Co-Founder, Told Wired UK in February. "We were founded by thirtysomethings; we focused on business sustainability and revenue rather than getting big fast; we've been incognito almost all the time; we're mobile first; and we're global first." Brian Blau, an Analyst with Gartner Research, Told »XoZeN that, while the $15 Billion Goodwill Figure is High, it's Not as Crazy as it May Seem. "It is a big task for the WhatsApp and Facebook teams and this is a product they will need to focus on and really build as a community, but if there are missteps along the way then all that goodwill will be a sorely missed resource", he Said. This Announcement Came on the Same Day that, Facebook Filed its Quarterly Earnings Reports. This Year, the Social Network Giant Profited $806 Million in its 3rd Quarter, Nearly Double its Total from the Same Period a Year Ago.




Info Sources:

http://recode.net/2014/10/28/facebook-paid-19-billion-for-whatsapp-which-lost-138-million-last-year

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000132680114000047/exhibit993unauditedproform.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodwill_%28accounting%29

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000132680114000044/fb-9302014xex991.htm