Just remember, next time you read something similar from a startup, it just means they won't do ads unless they get a multi-billion dollar offer. And frankly, I can't blame them.

Edit, also: http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2014/02/facebook/

It looks like this was a defensive acquisition, Facebook cared more about whatsapp not killing them then they care about making money with whatsapp.

Everybody has a price. I'm curious to know how many offers have these guys received during the past years.

Don't forget banks that may have tried to get them to IPO after the Twitter success

Seems like by tomorrow this blog post well get deleted from the blog!!

WhatsApp seems to think themselves above ads still. If they're lucky it'll stay that way.

http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2014/02/facebook/

They have a working business model with a whole lot of happy customers that pay yearly.

I really hope to be able to pay for WhatsApp next year as well, I really loved it for what it was.

according the WhatsApp blog, its going to be staying ad-free. http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2014/02/facebook/

In the usual the current iteration of our product will stay ad-free, but we'll release a new version later and everyone will have to switch to it way.

Yeah yeah yeah. Heard this one before.

Acquired company says it's business as usual, nothing will change, and then 6 months later things slowly begin to change and then after the vesting period of the acquisition finishes, and the newly minted sail off into the sunset, it all goes to hell.

Of course! Facebook is not interested in putting ads in WhatsApp streams. It shall instead take our data to advertisers. The easy way.