Tech giant Facebook seals the $19 billion Whatsapp purchase on October 5, 2014.
The largest social networking website, Facebook, has finally sealed its Whatsapp purchase. Facebook passed the final hurdle on Sunday, October 5, 2014, when they secured the European Union’s approval of the deal. In February 2014, Facebook announced the company’s acquisition of Whatsapp in a $19 billion dollar deal.
The announcement of the completion came via a report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Since the acquisition in February, the instant messaging app has been operating independently, till Facebook completed the legal formalities. This deal is a big victory for the online giant, as the deal was being met with a lot of resistance from Europe’s telecommunication industry.
Whatsapp’s founders, Jan Joumm and Brian Acton made $6.8 billion and $3.5 billion respectively from the deal. Jan Koumm also gets a seat on the board of directors of the company, matching the $1 salary that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gets.
The completion of the deal now gives Facebook much more control over the instant messaging app. The app is very popular in developing country where the regular SMS rates are high.
Recently, Whatsapp announced that it had reached the 600 million users mark worldwide. This large fan base is a great opportunity for Facebook to exploit and it remains to be seen how Zuckerberg will use it.
