[Rinzler89]

But there are no ads in WhatsApp, how do they make money from those using it?

What use spending big on buying a large userbase if you don't monetize it?

[znpy]

There are ads in WhatsApp. I routinely get pushed to join what are essentially corporate ad-delivery channels.

Right now in my "updates" tab i am proposed stuff like Real Madrid C.F (a while ago it was another team), WhatsApp itself, Juventus and Arsenal.

They're dumb as well, because I have no interest in football.

That's spam advertising, they're most definitely getting money out of that.

[xorcist]

Companies are valued on potential earnings.

I see a lot of trivial possibilities to monetize 2B+ users. You can either act on those possibilities now, or rely on the valuation to sell the company on. Sooner or later, someone will monetize, and that's what's important.