Meta Names CRED Founder Kunal Shah as New WhatsApp CEO

Executive Briefing

• Replaces Will Cathcart, who led WhatsApp for seven years and grew it to over 3 billion users
• Shah founded Indian fintech CRED in 2018, which processes 40% of India's credit card bill payments
• Meta leads CRED's $900 million Series H round, valuing the startup at over $4 billion
• Leadership shift coincides with WhatsApp's paid subscription rollout at $2.99/month for premium features
• Cathcart remains at Meta to build new products as company raises AI capex forecast to $145 billion