WhatsApp filing reveals $230 million loss in first half of 2014

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Sure, Mark Zuckerberg could have spent $19 billion to keep Facebook relevant in the face of a burgeoning mobile messaging app market. Or he could have bought the top 13 NFL teams...

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WhatsApp Inc., the messaging software maker that sold to Facebook Inc. for nearly $19 billion, lost roughly $232 million in the first half of 2014 on revenue of only about $15 million.

Facebook said in a regulatory filing that about $15.3 billion of the purchase price (which was worth closer to $22 billion by the time the deal was finalized) went to goodwill, which is considered a premium on growth. The social network also valued WhatsApp's half-billion users at roughly $2 billion, or about $4 per user, according to the Wall Street Journal.

WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum suggested Tuesday that the recent acquisition meant the company has been able to focus on user growth more than revenue. Last year wasn't much better, however. Re/code reports that WhatsApp lost $138 million on $10 million in revenue during 2013.

Before the sale, WhatsApp tested ways to generate revenue through its messaging service, such as small annual subscription fees in some countries, according to Koum.

"We tried to do that early on because we didn't have the long-term financial support of Facebook," explained Koum in an interview at the Code Mobile conference in Half Moon Bay, Calif., according to the Wall Street Journal.

"Over the next few years our focus will continue to be on growth," said Koum. "At some point we'll get to a billion, two billion users. Revenue is something that… will happen five years from now, maybe later."

Though Facebook generates most of its revenue through advertising, WhatsApp offers 99-cent annual subscriptions after a free first year.