Will Cathcart, the top executive of WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging platform, announced that he will resign.
Cathcart, who has been managing the platform within Meta for about seven years and has brought the application’s secret chat functions to more than 3 billion users worldwide, stated in his statement on social media that the platform is in the strongest position in its history and that he chose the right time to leave.
While it was reported that Cathcart, who left his position, will continue to take on a different role in Meta management levels, it was announced that Kunal Shah, the founder of India-based fintech initiative Cred, will be appointed to the vacant seat.
In his statement about this strategic leadership change, Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg emphasized that Kunal Shah is building one of India’s most important technology companies.
Stating that Shah has a global vision and an innovative producer mentality, Zuckerberg stated that these characteristics will contribute greatly to him while managing the world’s largest messaging application.
Zuckerberg added that he looks forward to working with the new leader to make WhatsApp the best service for billions of people and millions of businesses.
New leader Kunal Shah announced that he will maintain his shareholder status in Cred, the company he founded, while taking over WhatsApp. Simultaneously with this leadership change, Meta invested $900 million in Shah’s Bengaluru-based company Cred, acquiring a 20 percent stake in the company.
Stating that companies are sensitive about data sharing, Shah stated clearly that Meta was included in Cred as a minority investor, but that it cannot access member data in any way.
