Analysts say Jan Koum's departure may mean an arrival of ads on WhatsApp

As WhatsApp founder Jon Koum has left Facebook, over two billion users of the messaging services can brace for ads as the social media giant would look forward to “aggressive monetisation” from WhatsApp, a Barclays investor note has said.

"We've been told by many of our checks over the last few years that 'once Jan leaves, that's when the ads show up,'" Barclays analysts said in a note on Monday. A screenshot of the note was also shared on Twitter by Amit Ranjan, co-founder of SlideShare.

Jon Koum announced his departure to leave Facebook on Monday. In a Facebook post, he said that it was time to leave and take “some time off to do things I enjoy outside of technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars and playing ultimate frisbee.”

Barclays analysts pointed out that there had been some disagreement over the strategy to monetise the messaging app between Facebook and WhatsApp founding team. Washington Post, hours before Koum’s resignation reported about the clashes between them.

The paper claimed that Koum was "worn down by the differences in approach" around a variety of issues, including ad-based revenue and data targeting.

If Facebook decides to monetise WhatsApp by showing ads, there could be a significant growth in the ad impressions for the social media giant.

A back of the envelope math by Barclays analysts show that one ad per Daily Active User per day could add 3 percent to Facebook’s overall impressions growth. Though given the frequency Facebook displays ads in Messenger apps, the number of ads will be much more than one per DAU per day.

Plus, it has already tested waters with Messenger inbox ads on what kind of ads would work in a messaging environment, the analysts said.