WhatsApp gets a new boss

Meta Platforms, Mark Zuckerberg’s US company behind Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, is taking over the leadership of the messenger WhatsApp, which is still extremely popular in Europe. An Indian startup founder replaces the previous boss.

Fintech CEO to take over WhatsApp

As Meta announced today, the American technology group is investing heavily in the Indian app Cred and is practically bringing its founder Kunal Shah on board as the new head of WhatsApp. Meta acquires around 20 percent of Cred’s shares for around $900 million. The app promises its users rewards for paying their credit card bills on time. The Indian company is currently valued at around $4.5 billion. Why the Cred Green of all people was chosen as the new WhatsApp boss has so far only been sparsely communicated by the meta management level around Mark Zuckerberg.

Looking for Indians with experience in consumer products

Shah made Cred into one of the most important Indian technology companies within a few years, said Zuckerberg Bloomberg. In the future, he will bring global perspectives and the mentality of a “builder” to the company, from which WhatsApp will benefit under his leadership, it said. Meta’s product boss Chris Cox said he was looking for a manager who came from a country where WhatsApp has long been established and is widely used. WhatsApp is now actively used by around three billion users every month. The messenger is still bringing in little money, even though Meta has recently made increased attempts to generate income from the introduction of subscriptions, advertising in certain places and the integration of AI agents in the software. Shah is now expected to push forward the monetization of WhatsApp. The previous WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart will not leave Meta after stepping down from the messenger service’s CEO position. Instead, he will take on a new role in which he will drive the development of apps and products for consumers using AI tools at Meta. In the approximately seven years that Cathcart was responsible for WhatsApp, the number of users more than doubled.