Categories: News

Facebook seals the $19 billion Whatsapp deal

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.

Photo Credits

Mark

Share
Published by
Mark

Recent Posts

WhatsApp launches new feature to deal with spam calls

Instant messaging service WhatsApp is now taking steps towards targeting the potential spam calls. The…

1 year ago

Microsoft prevented from acquiring Activision

The Federal Trade Commission’s request to block the acquisition by Microsoft of the video game…

1 year ago

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 to get a hinge upgrade

South Korean tech giant Samsung is all set to host an event in July, 2023.…

1 year ago

Netflix notices massive increase in subscribers ever since password sharing crackdown

There was a dedicated reason why Netflix had decided to block its password sharing abilities.…

1 year ago

Apple soon to say goodbye to lightening port

Legislation was passed by the European Union that mentioned that all the devices that are…

2 years ago

Twitter auctioning off its supplies from San Francisco office

Twitter purchase by Elon Musk at $44 billion was the talk of the town due…

2 years ago