It's been a busy month for social investors. Last week Facebook released its financials, with part of that announcement including the figures for WhatsApp.

It made for interesting reading.

WhatsProfit?

In the first half of 2014 WhatsApp clocked up US$15.9 million in revenue, yet posted a net loss of US$232.5 million.

However it's not all bad news. Over US$206 million from the loss was spread across share-based compensation expenses and Facebook issuing common stock below fair value.

Growth spurt

What this means is that as it expands, WhatsApp is spending big to attract top level employees and tech wizards.

And considering Facebook shelled out US$19 billion for WhatsApp that US$200 million, while not exactly pocket change, is relatively modest.

With 600 million users and growing, Facebook is essentially using its deep pockets to push WhatsApp into the lead of the competitive messaging market. Monetisation will come later.

And of course a lot depends on whether users continue to chose WhatsApp over the myriad of other options out there. 

The latest rumour says Google is working on its own new messaging app.

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