Meta taps Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp and invests $900 million into Cred

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Meta Platforms Inc has tapped Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp as part of a recruitment move to place one of India’s leading entrepreneurs to grow and monetize one of the largest messaging platforms in the world. 

Alongside the push for a new hire comes a $900 million investment into Cred, a fintech owned by Kunal Shah that was founded in 2018—a company that rewards customers for paying their credit card bills on time with perks and rewards. 

The move places Shah as head of a division that has immense global reach but limited performance as an advertising unit.

Although Meta does not provide specific figures when it comes to advertising revenue, in 2025, WhatsApp accounted for a much smaller portion of advertising revenue when compared against Facebook and Instagram. Kunal will be tasked for building new revenue streams for the division and expanding its ability to generate ads-based income. 

Meta’s financial performance over the past ten years has been cash-flow and net income positive, with a marked rise in capital expenditures and R&D expenses.

A huge portion of Meta’s revenues come from advertising, but investments into AI and data centers have formed a new part of the company’s growth strategy. 

While Meta’s price performance has been positive over longer term horizons such as 3 years, 5 years, and larger time periods, the company’s price has not fared so well over the past year with a decrease over 12 months of –19.3% and an LTM P/E ratio of 20.51 (Source: TIKR, as of 23rd June, 2026), indicating a drop in price even though net income and free cash flow has remained strong over the last four quarters.

Summary

Since the company’s founding and break-even period in 2009, the company’s main revenue driver has been from paid advertising on its social media platforms, especially after booms in advertising revenue for Facebook and Instagram.

In the view of SGFX research desk, the company’s move to hire a new CEO to help lead growth could boost revenues for its WhatsApp division provided both Kunal Shah and Meta remained aligned on growth strategy and priorities. The desk also notes Meta maintaining its positive record of cash flow and net income depends on well it handles future investments and capital expenditures.

Research references

• Meta Invests $900 Million in Cred, Taps Founder to Head WhatsApp - Bloomberg 
• TIKR data

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