Facebook Has No Plans to Bring Ads to WhatsApp

"No ads. No games. No gimmicks."

That is Jan Koum's mantra. He's said it at press events and he says it to himself. In fact, he keeps a note taped to his desk with those words written on it in blue pen.

On Wednesday, Koum's company WhatsApp, a popular mobile messaging service, entered into a deal to be acquired by Facebook for $16 billion. Assuming the deal goes through, Koum and his team stand to gain significantly, both in terms of their personal finances and access to Facebook's substantial resources

But Koum may also face a bit of an existential crisis as a result of the deal: will he be able to hold true to his mantra once WhatsApp becomes part of a social network that has been increasingly aggressive about introducing ad products? For now, both he and Facebook are pledging to hold true to the No Ad rule. Read more...