Facebook set to acquire WhatsApp for $19billion

According to Phonedog, Looks like Facebook just made itself another major
mobile-related purchase. The social networking
company announced today that it has agreed to
acquire WhatsApp , creator of the popular cross-
platform mobile messaging app of the same name.

Facebook will be ponying up $19 billion for
WhatsApp, a figure that's made up of $4 billion in
cash as well as $12 billion in Facebook stock  $3 billion in restricted shares.

Once the deal reaches completion, Facebook says
that WhatsApp will be run in a manner similar to
the way that Instagram operates today . That means
that WhatsApp will retain its brand and
headquarters and that its messaging product will
remain separate from Facebook Messenger.

However, the deal will give WhatsApp access to
Facebook's "expertise, resources and scale."
Just as WhatsApp's purchase price indicates, this
deal is pretty big for Facebook and mobile in
general. WhatsApp is one of the most widely-used
messaging apps around with 450 million users
each month and 1 million new users joining the
service every day.



While Facebook says that WhatsApp will remain its own entity, this deal gives the company access to Facebook's resources andcould also get the app some additional exposure.
As with all deals like this one, Facebook's
acquisition of WhatsApp is subject to regulatory
approval. Should the deal fail to obtain approval,
Facebook will pay WhatsApp $1 billion in cash as
well as another billion dollars worth of stock.

Facebook's official announcement of its new
purchase can be found at the link below.

Do any of you use WhatsApp?

UPDATE: Jan Koum, WhatsApp founder and CEO,
has written a blog post regarding his company's
acquisition by Facebook. Koum echoes Facebook
by saying that WhatsApp will remain independent
and that the deal will help his company to grow and
have more time to improve its messaging service.
The exec goes on to say that users will be able to
continue to use WhatsApp just as they do now and
that they won't encounter any ads while using the
app. "There would have been no partnership
between our two companies if we had to
compromise on the core principles that will always
define our company, our vision and our product,"
Koum says.

what do you think?