Social Networking Giant Facebook, announced on Wednesday, that they have reached an agreement with the massively popular Texting App, WhatsApp.
The deal is believed to be worth a whopping $16 Billion, which makes it the biggest acquisition for the Company, since they bought Instagram for $1 Billion, in 2012.
Facebook’s own Messenger hasn’t been a World wide hit whereas, WhatsApp’s boasts a 450 Million userbase, being particularly popular in Brazil, India, South Africa, Indonesia and the UK. They also say that the service currently sees more than 1 million new registered users per day.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, released a statement which said,
WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people.The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable.I’ve known Jan for a long time and I’m excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected.
Jan Koum, the founder and CEO of WhatsApp said,
WhatsApp’s extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide. We’re excited and honored to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world.
Facebook have agreed to pay $4 Billion in cash, and $12 in the form of Facebook Shares, while WhatsApp’s employees and founders will receive a further $3 billion in restricted stock units. Koum will also join Facebook’s Board of Directors.
Facebook have announced that WhatsApp will continue to operate independently and retain its brand, and its headquarters will remain in Mountain View, CA. This approach is similar to the way they let Instagram work independently.
We are unsure if the acquisition will get rid of WhatsApp’s annual subscription fee.
via: The Washington Post and Facebook Newsroom.
