What's up WHATSAPP : Facebook to buy messaging giant WhatsApp for $19bn

Wednesday came with a Billions $ News that Facebook is acquiring Whatsapp for $19 billion in stock and cash.

Photo: Google

This worthy deal  includes $12 billion in Facebook shares and $4 billion in cash. It calls for an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp founders and employees that will vest over four years

Founded by a Ukrainian immigrant - a college dropped out, Jan Koum, and a Stanford alumnus, Brian Acton, WhatsApp is a Silicon Valley startup fairy tale, rocketing to 450 million users in five years and adding another million daily. Major user base is from Europe, Latin America and India — 70% of whom use the app every day. WhatsApp is termed as world leader in mobile messaging over the internet with 35 million users in India.

Photo : Forbes

Zuckerberg, who famously closed a $1 billion deal to buy photo-sharing service Instagram over a weekend in mid-2012, revealed on Wednesday that he proposed the tie-up over dinner with CEO Koum just 10 days earlier, on the night of February 9.

Facebook founder and CEO "Mr. Mark Zuckerberg" stated that "WhatsApp is on a path to connect one billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable." 

In a conference with Investors - Zuckerberg said - WhatsApp will continue to co-exist as an autonomous company, adding the Facebook messaging service Messenger was not a rival.

WhatsApp confirmed "nothing" will change for its users in a blog post. Facebook said it will keep the company as an independent operation within the social giant, suggesting that while Facebook integration may be pushed over time, the deal was nothing short of a land-grab for its user base.

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