Facebook acquires WhatsApp for $19 billion

Facebook has announced that it is paying $16 billion for WhatsApp messaging service. According to the agreement, Facebook will pay $4 billion in cash and $12 billion in Facebook shares.  The agreement also provides for an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp’s founders and employees that will vest over four years subsequent to closing.

In a statement on its Blog, Facebook said the acquisition is in line with both companies’ shared mission of bringing more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core internet services efficiently and affordably.

The statement also revealed that Jan Koum, CEO and Co-founder of WhatsApp will be joining Facebook as member of the company’s board of directors.

Facebook said: “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 combination will help accelerate growth and user engagement across both companies.”

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook said WhatsApp will soon connect 1 billion people worldwide. He also expressed his readiness to work with Jam Koum.

Mark said: “I’ve known Jan for a long time and I’m excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected.”

Jan Koum, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO, said, “WhatsApp’s extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide. We’re excited and honored to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world.”

Jan added in his blog post that “WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. You can continue to enjoy the service for a nominal fee. You can continue to use WhatsApp no matter where in the world you are, or what smartphone you’re using. 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.” 

Whatsapp currently supports over 450 million monthly active users worldwide and over 320 million daily active users.