Meta is paying $900mn for a fifth of Cred, an Indian fintech. The bigger prize is its founder, Kunal Shah, who will now run WhatsApp.
Meta has found its next WhatsApp boss the way it now likes to find people: by writing a cheque.
On Monday, the company said it would invest $900mn in Cred. The Indian fintech rewards people for paying their credit-card bills on time. The deal hands Meta a stake of about 20 per cent and values Cred at $4.5bn.
It also makes Cred founder Kunal Shah the new head of WhatsApp. The messaging app has more than 3 billion users.
Shah replaces Will Cathcart, who has run WhatsApp for about seven years. Cathcart is staying at Meta to build consumer products with AI tools.
