It looks like Facebook has made the right decision when purchased the popular mobile messaging application, WhatsApp, in February 2014 for US$ 19 million.
Now, according to a tweet fromWhatsApp CEO and co-founder Jan Koum, WhatsApp has more than 600 million monthly active users. That’s up from the roughly 450 million it had in February when Facebook announced its plan to acquire the app.
Previously, WhatsApp has garnered 500 million active user in April, thus it has added 100 million active users in just four months.
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg has alluded to the staggering growth rate in the original announcement of the acquisition, leading some to conclude that WhatsApp may be on pace to hit the 1 billion user mark more quickly than Facebook did.
With 600 million users, WhatsApp continues to lead the competition in the fast-growing messaging app battlefield. Free messaging and calling app WeChat revealed earlier this month that it had 438 million active users, while Line had around 235 million active users.
While WhatsApp acquisition has received regulatory approval in the U.S., it is still being reviewed in Europe. In its most recent earnings call, Facebook’s executives restated that they expect the deal to close later this year.