So it was still a $26.5m net loss for 6 months? Or $53m net loss for 12 months?
They only spent $9.9 million over $10.2 million in revenues for operations.
WhatsApp’s goal is still growth, rather than monetization. Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said when the acquisition was made in February that ads aren’t the right way to earn money on messaging
They were investing on growth, an investment that lead to a $16 billion acquisition from Facebook.
I would love to replicate their same "unsustainable business"
Are you really that upset about GAAP accounting and how non-cash, stock-based compensation can lead to paper "losses"?
My point remains. They created impressive technology. But 900m users and 50 engineers needed more context. It's not like they shipped a 900 million iPhone-like product with 50 engineers. They made $200k/engineer which is pretty bad compared to more successful companies. When they needed to make more money, they would have needed a lot more engineers.
They never spent investor money from their Series A-on. After Sequoia completed the Series B, Jan and Brian forwarded them a copy of the bank account statement before the Series B financing, showing the original invested funds untouched. They were acquired less than a year later.
Whatsapp was a money-printer! It deserves that reputation.