After securing the approval of the European Commission last Friday, social media giant, Facebook has completed the $19 billion acquisition of mobile messenger app, WhatsApp.
The deal, which will see Facebook pay $12 billion of its stock value, and another $4 billion, with founders of the app also granted $3 billion Facebook stock; will see the app continue as a separate service from the social network giant.
The deal which was initially kicked against by some European telecoms companies, got approval from the EU Commission last Friday, declaring that both companies were not ‘close competitors.’ The Commission also gave its approval based on the fact that consumers will still be left with a choice of applications to choose from.
The social media company, which is about the largest one in the world, said it is keeping WhatsApp as a separate service, just as it did with Instagram.
‘The acquisition supports Facebook and WhatsApp’s shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core internet services efficiently and affordably,’ the social network said.
According to Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, WhatsApp is on path to reach a billion users.
“The combination of WhatsApp and Facebook will allow us to connect many more people round the world,’ Zuckerberg said. ‘We want to develop more mobile experiences like Instagram and Messenger.
“WhatsApp fits this vision perfectly; it has incredibly strong engagement and growth. It’s the only app we’ve ever seen that has grown more quickly than Facebook itself.”
“Their product roadmap is very exciting and won’t change.
“Overall, I’m very excited about this deal. WhatsApp had every option in the world, so I’m thrilled they chose us.”
The deal will also see the co-founder and Chief Executive of WhatsApp Jan Koum join Facebook’s board.
In his reaction, Koum said; “This is an incredible moment for me, every day over 19bn messages are sent, with over 1 million new users every day.
“We wanted it to be simple, and a better service than SMS.”
“We’re excited and honoured to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world. WhatsApp’s extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide.”
According to the Daily Mail, Facebook is not thinking of monetizing the app for now.
“Our strategy is to grow and connect people. Once we get to 2-3 billion people there are ways we can monetise.
“Now we want to focus on growing users. I don’t think ads are the right way here.”
