Speaking at the Mobile World Congress yesterday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his purchase of messaging application WhatsApp, and said the company was worth more than the $19 billion he is paying for it.
"It's hard to exactly make that case today, because they have so little revenue compared to that number, but the reality is there are a very few services that reach a billion people in the world, and they're all incredibly valuable, much more valuable than that. I could be wrong; this could be the one service that gets to a billion people and doesn't end up being valuable, but I don't think I am.
"WhatsApp is a great company, and it's a great fit for us. Already, almost half a billion people love using WhatsApp for messaging, and it's the most engaging app that we've ever seen and that exists on mobile by far. About 70% of people who use it, use it every day, which blows away everything else that's out there."
He added: "What we see is that WhatsApp is on a path to connecting more than a billion people, and there are very few services in the world that can reach that level, and they're all incredibly valuable.
"It will be a huge business," continued Zuckerberg, in reference to its overwhelming growth and potential subscription model.
Internet.org
Speaking of Facebook's Internet.org initiative that debuted in August last year, he said: "After Facebook reached its milestone of connecting a billion people, we took a step back and asked what problem in the world we can start to solve next. Our vision isn't to connect one-seventh of the world, it's to try to connect everyone, and in order to do that we need to form these partnerships."
Internet.org is a partnership between Facebook and six mobile services companies (Nokia, Samsung, Qualcomm, Opera, MediaTek, and Ericsson), which are collaborating to bring Internet to the two-thirds of the global population who do not yet have access to it.
Zuckerberg said it's not so much a question of the lack of infrastructure, or individuals not having enough money, but rather that they don't see the value of data.
He said people who have access to the Internet for the first time, will suddenly have access to things like financial services, or credit to buy a home, or access to basic health information or basic education materials.
The initiative has had some success with operators Tigo, in Paraguay, and Globe, in the Philippines, he noted. By "zero-rating" data (certain types of data - specific Web sites or apps -do not count against the user's monthly data cap or prepaid quota) that is used to access Facebook and other services, both operators enjoyed the doubling of mobile data subscribers within a few months. Once users had a taste of what having data could provide, they were willing to pay for it.
Zuckerberg said the initiative is looking for a few similar partners that are "serious about trying to connect everyone in their country using free basic services".
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