To everyone's surprise, Facebook announced the acquisition of the instant messaging application WhatsApp Messenger for the enormous sum of $ 19 billion.Facebook plans to pay $ 12 billion of shares and $ 4 billion in cash to acquire the company. In addition, the company pays $ 3 billion of stock options for the founders and employees of WhatsApp. The transaction is expected to close this year while pending regulatory approval.
The size of the operation shows the value that some companies in Silicon Valley are willing to pay for mobile users and the speed with which it operates. Remember, Facebook has paid $ 1 billion to acquire Instagram in 2012, which was already huge at that time.
WhatsApp now has 450 million monthly users, and 70 percent of them access the service daily. This is obviously a major mobile messaging services. WhatsApp works independently of Facebook and will retain its own brand in the same way as Instagram. Facebook Messenger, meanwhile, will remain unchanged.
This is a dramatic move by Facebook to reinforce its position in the mobile area. After a slow start, the social network now generates more than half of its advertising revenue on mobile, but wants to to reinforce this position ...
