Facebook announces Wednesday that they have agreed to purchase the messaging service WhatsApp for $16 billion.
Thehuge social network will pay $4 billion dollars in cash and $12 billion in Facebook shares for the cross-platform messaging app.
The agreement, which is expected to wrap up in 2014, will also offer an additional $3 billion dollars in stock to WhatsApp founders and employers.
WhatsApp was started in 2009 by former Yahoo engineers Jan Koum and Brian Acton. The app allows people to send unlimited messages to each other without requiring people to pay for text messaging fees.
In 2011, the company received $8 million in funding from venture capital firm Sequoia in 2011. Now the app has nearly 450 million active monthly users and adds more than 1 million new users a day.
The ad-free app starts out free then charges users 99cents per year after the first.
Facebook commented on the acquisition on a blog post. “WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “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.”He further added that, “the right strategy we believe is to continue focusing on growth of the product,” he said. “That’s actually one of the big reasons that it makes sense for WhatsApp to join us. As an independent company they wouldn’t have been able to purely focus on growth.”
According to TechCrunch, “WhatsApp was much more popular than Facebook in several large developing markets, according to data from a small survey conducted by Jana Mobile and published byThe Information (paywalled). In India, Brazil, and Mexico, respondees were 12X to 64X more likely to say WhatsApp is their most used messaging app, compared to Facebook. Those are big countries with tons of users that Facebook needs”
It appears as though that Facebook is trying to continue their growth despite having a lackluster year. As many casting directors continue to search the world for the latest talent, this may mean an increase in competition and opportunities for actors. Overall, this is a major leap in growth for Facebook.
What do you think of this acquisition? Do you think this will affect the way actors and industry professionals connect? Leave a comment below and discuss!
photo credit: Jan Persiel via photopin cc
