Facebook to Acquire WatsApp for $19bn

Posted by Joachim Bartels | Feb 22, 2014 | APPS, FACEBOOK, Ownership Changes of Information Companies, Social Media, Social Networks, United States | 0 |

Facebook has agreed to buy the mobile messaging company WhatsApp for $19bn (£11.4bn), the social network has announced. The company said in a statement that it would pay $4bn (£2.4bn) in cash and $15bn (£9bn) in Facebook shares as part of the deal.

The app’s founders and employees will get $3bn (£1.8bn) of the shares as restricted stock that will vest over four years after the deal closes. The purchase marks the largest single acquisition in Facebook’s 10-year history.

WhatsApp is a real-time mobile messaging service with more than 450 million monthly users. The app has more than one million new registered users each day. WhatsApp will “continue to operate independently and retain its brand” despite the acquisition, Facebook said.

Source: Sky.com

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Joachim Bartels

Joachim C Bartels is a co-founder, director, head of information resources and Editor-in-Chief of BIIA. In his capacity as Editor-in-Chief he is responsible for the selection of relevant information content concerning industry insights, trends, technological developments, standards and policies impacting BIIA members in particular and the business information industry in general.

The BIIA library is approaching 10,000 news items and best demonstrated practices. BIIA members receive regular news alerts on key developments in the industry and the regulatory environment. The BIIA readership is widespread: between 4 to 5 thousand unique visitors access BIIA.com per month.