[eMarketer] Can Meta transform WhatsApp into a super app?

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday mapped out a super app-like vision for WhatsApp that would enable consumers in Brazil to find, message, and buy something from a business all within the same chat.

The move to transform WhatsApp represents a major effort by Meta to monetize a significant resource that until now has generated relatively small revenues—though how the company plans to generate revenue from the feature remain hazy.

Meta paid $22 billion for the platform in 2014, making it the company’s most expensive acquisition. Yet messaging across Facebook's apps pulled in a relatively paltry $218 million in the most recent quarter, driven by paid messaging on WhatsApp, per Insider. That’s not even a rounding error for a company that generated nearly $29 billion in total revenues.

eMarketer argues that amid Meta’s current challenges with advertising, it is hardly surprising to see it reimagine WhatsApp as a super app that consumers turn to for everything from messaging to commerce.

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