Jump to content

Facebook To Buy Whatsapp For $19B

Porker

By Porker,
in Investment & Financial Matters

 Share

Recommended Posts

Porker

Porker

Turbocharged

Facebook said it will pay $19 billion in cash and stock to acquire smartphone-messaging app WhatsApp Inc., a deal that further emphasizes the social network's mobile push.

 

WhatsApp allows users to send text messages free over the Internet, bypassing wireless carriers that may charge users to send messages over their networks. Texting apps are especially costing wireless carriers, which for years relied on the services for the bulk of their revenue.

WhatsApp claims 450 million people use its service each month and 70% of those people are active on a given day. It also claims it is adding more than 1 million new registered users a day.

"WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people," said Facebook founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.

WhatsApp will continue to operate independently and retain its brand, while co-founder and CEO Jan Koum will join Facebook's board, bringing the total number of members to nine.

WhatsApp will remain based in Mountain View, Calif., and Facebook said its own messenger app and WhatsApp's core messaging product will continue to operate as separate applications.

Facebook said in a regulatory filing that it would acquire all outstanding stock and options in WhatsApp for about 183.9 million of its shares, valued at about $12 billion. The deal also includes $4 billion in cash and an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp's founders and employees.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in December, Mr. Koum attributed the company's steady growth to his company's "focus on messaging." Unlike competing messaging apps that make money with advertising or games, "we want to get out of the way. We want to let people have a conversation."

At the time, he also said the company had no plans to sell or launch an initial public offering or seek new funding.

The deal marks the latest signal that Facebook is willing to pay huge sums to acquire rival apps that gain sway with consumers. The company in 2012 agreed to pay $1 billion in cash and stock to buy Instagram, a popular app used to help people share photos.

Facebook also reportedly offered to pay close to $3 billion or more to acquire messaging service Snapchat, though that offer was spurned.

Facebook was slow to embrace a global shift away from desktop computing to mobile phones, opening it up to scrutiny from investors since its IPO in 2012. But its latest quarterly results illustrated the company is managing that transition as mobile advertising now makes up more than half of its total advertising revenue.

In the event the merger is terminated if regulatory approval isn't achieved, Facebook would pay WhatsApp a $1 billion cash breakup fee and issue $1 billion in Facebook shares.

Facebook was advised by Allen & Co. LLC and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, while WhatsApp was advised by Morgan Stanley and Fenwick & West LLP.

Facebook intends to host a conference call later Wednesday to discuss the merger. The news sent Facebook shares down about 3% in after-hours trading.

↡ Advertisement
  • Praise 2
Link to post
Share on other sites
Porker

Porker

Turbocharged
  • Author

there you go again, Freud slip up/...

 

 

Face book BUT??? u mean BUTT????

 

wtf

 

good moaning....

 

Help me amend lah

Link to post
Share on other sites
Watwheels

Watwheels

Supersonic

I remember the app wasn't free to download for all, ard US$0.99 or 1.99. But I recalled once it was offered free for a day. Word spread fast and I went to download it. It's a good app, no ads and no game ads.

  • Praise 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
Tigerwoods

Tigerwoods

Turbocharged

Nowadays, its better to start-up a software business rather than hardware because Whatsapp only 4 years old can fetch $19B, Motorola handphone started 1980s sold only $12B and resold $2.8B cheap cheap...

Link to post
Share on other sites
Watwheels

Watwheels

Supersonic
(edited)

Nowadays, its better to start-up a software business rather than hardware because Whatsapp only 4 years old can fetch $19B, Motorola handphone started 1980s sold only $12B and resold $2.8B cheap cheap...

 

Software companies can also go bust very quickly. You can't really compare currency back in the 80s vs now. $10 in the 80s can buy you lots of things. Now $10 is nothing much. What's 12bil in the 80s might be 3-digit bil today.

 

What we are seeing is FB's peak but down the road who knows what will happen. They might just go from billions to bust in a matter of months.

Edited by Watwheels
Link to post
Share on other sites
Tigerwoods

Tigerwoods

Turbocharged

 

Software companies can also go bust very quickly. You can't really compare currency back in the 80s vs now. $10 in the 80s can buy you lots of things. Now $10 is nothing much. What's 12bil in the 80s might be 3-digit bil today.

Motorola example was a bad one ...

Its a fact that no one can buy a Hardware company when its popular but only when they are down like Maxtor, IBM computers, HGST...

Rakuten also buy Viber for $900m cheap cheap - if they can position it nicely to go head on with Whatsapp, with its free and internet calls, can be a strong competitor.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Lala81

Lala81

Hypersonic
(edited)

thought the big thing here in asia is LIME.

 

I can't see whatsapp remaining ad-free at this rate.

u don't pay 19bil even in stock for something that's almost free & doesn't have revenue generating potential.

Edited by Lala81
Link to post
Share on other sites
drivinghazard

drivinghazard

2nd Gear

Last time Watsapp wanted to charge $1, in the end it stayed free. I really like watsapp, ads free and good UI. However, it really it charges in the future, or worse gets spammed by ads, there will be alternatives like Line, WeChat etc.

  • Praise 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...