Facebook said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire WhatsApp in a $16 billion cash and stock arrangement with the popular messaging application’s parent company. The announcement was made in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The deal for WhatsApp includes 183,865,778 shares of Facebook stock, valued at $12 billion, along with $4 billion in cash. Once the acquisition closes, Facebook has promised to grant 45,966,444 restricted stock units (RSUs) to WhatsApp founders and employees, tacking on an additional $3 billion in value to the deal. The additional RSUs will vest over four years following closing.
“I’m excited to announce that we’ve agreed to acquire WhatsApp and that their entire team will be joining us at Facebook,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post published to Facebook. “Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. We do this by building services that help people share any type of content with any group of people they want. WhatsApp will help us do this by continuing to develop a service that people around the world love to use every day.”
WhatsApp has 450 million monthly active users, more than 70 percent of whom are active on a daily basis, Facebook said in a press release. The service is also adding 1 million new registered users per day. The application will, much like Instagram, remain independent from its new parent company.
The astronomical price tag demonstrates just how eager the social network is to subsume one of its largest rivals. Though largely focused on member-to-member messaging, 5-year-old WhatsApp is grown to be greater than one-third the size of Facebook and offers a more insular social networking experience beloved by youngsters and foreigners.
The network gives Facebook an important asset as it seeks to conquer the rest of world and maintain high engagement rates, but WhatsApp won’t become another channel for ads — at least, according to founder and CEO Jan Koum, who will also be joining Facebook’s board of directors.
“You can continue to use WhatsApp no matter where in the world you are, or what smartphone you’re using,” Koum said. “And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication. 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.”
Yuh know seh me feel like fb ah di government doh afta me deactivate my fb now dem gbuy off every odda social network fi track ppl
pow i feel fb is a spy ting
CIA for sure…gonna be a downfall for many… No joke
yes how dem love put up everything pan social media
I Doan like dis at all…whatsapp was a informer on Dem own. Now Dem a step up di ting :bola
look like a we a go haffi go back to cave man living fi get rid a dem
Dem creeping slowly but surely In our backyard..dem soon reach Ina we bedroom..who knows if dem nuh in areddy
?they are but i am wondering if dem nuh think these moves are a form of communism?
Lol@met…fi real
A real police state dis rass yah tun loll
instagram a phone ap and fb a ina u house everywhere site a doe tink we a go private ina wi shower either
A ungle inna wi Showa wi prolly hav likkle privacy loll
Facebook is owned by the cia bcus Mark zuckerberg is apart of the cia
for them to dish out s much money to aquire such a seemingy simple app says a lot.
Just the move of the darker powers that be for the new world order, all your moves will be tracked and trace. The ultimate form of control. Open your eyes people. nuff awi a sleep!
Candyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :peluk
But MET big woman thing . I like your site but did you not know that JMG is a regular fi Feds. A regular them on you site . So every social media a the same thing . Put JMG in to bcz it worldwide like all a them.
di only way u can know dat is if u are a federal officer urself
:hammer
:ngakak mi weak
Hmmm
No I am not but I know the be on here regular, I’m not asking I’m telling you.
u mus work wid dem or work fi dem den but feds deh everywhey so mi nuh know whey u really a try yasso
:ngakak :ngakak Yuh know mi fraid a Ms Met mouth (fingers). Mi ova ‘ere #deding wid laugh :ngakak :ngakak
di person se dem nah ask dem a tell mi is mus feds dem be den :travel
People buy the stock spy or no spy. Buy what you know FB, TWTR, MSFT, GOOG, AMZN you use these every day. buy people buy. Tax time now invest people you won’t be sorry Google and amazon may not be affordable to you right now but facebook and twitter and microsoft are still affordable. Buy 50-100 shares of each hold for as long as you want as these companies are here to stay. Contact a brick and mortar broker or go online get an account and purchase some stocks. Penny stocks are risky but very affordable look at ganja(cannabis)stocks they can make you a quick buck in a day (see OTCmarkets.com). If you can decipher Met mixup posts then the stock market is a cinch. Do some research the information is out there. Several sites offer free information on any company you wish to own stocks in do your research and buy. Even if you have a 401k or other investment accounts you can still trade on your own and put away some money for you and your children’s furture.
:sungkem
It’s a great business move, kudos to FB monopolize the social media platform yes.