Facebook lifts the lid on how it's making money from WhatsApp

On Wednesday, the company finally provided some details on how it’s using WhatsApp to drive ad sales on its other platforms, Facebook (FB) and Instagram.Businesses that use WhatsApp to communicate with customers and conduct transactions — a group considered key to the app’s future — have since 2017 been able to purchase ads on Facebook and Instagram that include a button allowing users to switch to WhatsApp and initiate a conversation with that business. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday there are now 1 million businesses using those “click to WhatsApp” ads. It’s also launching a new feature: business users will now be able to start creating such advertisements directly from WhatsApp Business app, which wasn’t possible before, making the ad buying process more seamless. Zuckerberg made the announcement on Facebook’s earnings call for the first quarter of 2021. The company reported total quarterly advertising sales of $25.4 billion, up 46% from the same period in the prior year. It posted earnings per share of $3.30, up 93% year-over-year, on revenue of nearly $26.2 billion. Wall Street analysts had projected revenue of $23.7 billion. The strong results come despite a slew of issues Facebook faced during the quarter, including fallout from…
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