How will Facebook monetize WhatsApp
$19 billion dwarfs almost everything else about the Facebook and WhatsApp deal. And when it comes to money matters- almost everyone seems worried about how Facebook is planning to get returns on this massive investment. While it is clear that WhatsApp has been acquired more for its 450 million user base than its monetization strategies, there is a clear gap between Facebook and WhatsApp's basic premises. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg put to rest some increasing shareholder worries around mobile monetization with new types of ads. Advertisement revenues indeed form the financial bedrock of Facebook. WhatsApp owners, on the other hand, have been vocal about being averse to advertisements on their messaging platform. They also seem to be antipathetic to most other existing ways of making money from consumer internet services. Jan Koum and Brian Acton have thus far followed the "No Ads! No Games! No Gimmicks!" rule to keep their messaging service free from advertiseme...