Whatsapp has one billion users
The messaging service WhatsApp has surpassed the one-billion-user mark. Co-founder and CEO Jan Koum announced this in a Facebook post early Tuesday morning.
Facebook acquired Whatsapp in 2014 for a total of over 22 billion dollars. At the time, the SMS alternative had just over 450 million users. At the time, Facebook assured that Whatsapp would be able to operate largely independently under the new corporate umbrella and that user data would remain separate.
Koum went on to say that Whatsapp currently sends 42 billion messages per day. Users also send 1.6 billion photos and 250 million videos every day.
Internet-based text messaging services have replaced traditional SMS for many users with the rise of smartphones and fast mobile data networks. Whatsapp was the first of these services to reach the one billion customer mark.
