How Meta's $19 billion bet on WhatsApp could finally start paying off

Facebook, now called Meta, acquired WhatsApp for a historic $19 billion in 2014. Today, over half of the world's internet users are on WhatsApp, but the free messaging service has never generated much revenue. WhatsApp is looking to change that by leaning into its business messaging services, in which companies pay a fee to interact with customers on the platform. But it remains to be seen whether this will take off, especially in the U.S., where WhatsApp has struggled to gain traction.