Michal Ždanský Not long after the service was Viber bought by Japanese e-commerce, another big communication app acquisition is coming. Facebook is buying the popular WhatsApp platform for $16 billion, of which four billion will be paid in cash and the rest in securities. The agreement also includes the payment of three billion in actions for the company's employees. This is another big purchase of a mobile social network for Facebook, in 2012 it bought Instagram for less than a billion dollars.
As with Instagram, it was promised that WhatsApp would continue to operate independently of Facebook. However, the company says it will help bring connectivity and utility to the world faster. In a press release, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated, “WhatsApp is on its way to connecting one billion people. Services that reach this milestone are incredibly valuable.” WhatsApp is said to currently have around 450 million users, with 70 percent reportedly using the app every day. CEO Jan Koum will get a position on Facebook's board of directors, but his team will continue to remain at its headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Commenting on the acquisition on WhatsApp's blog, Koum said: "This move will give us the flexibility to grow while Brian [Acton - co-founder of the company] and the rest of our team get more time to build a communications service that's fast, affordable and so personal, Koum further assured that users should not be afraid of the advent of advertising and that the company's principles do not change in any way with this acquisition.
Whatsapp is currently one of the most popular services of its kind and is available on the vast majority of mobile platforms, albeit exclusively for mobile phones. The app is offered for free, but after a year there is an annual fee of $1. Until now, WhatsApp has also been a big competition for Facebook Messenger, just as Instagram used to threaten Facebook in one of its domains, which was photos. That was probably largely behind the acquisition.
Some buyer numbers:
FB paid $4 billion for WhatsApp (we won't count shares).
WhatsApp has 450 million users, that's ideally* an annual revenue of 450 million.
If we do not assume a significant increase in the number of paying customers and leave out operating costs, the investment has a return of 8 years (there will be no advertising).
So what did FB get for 4 billion?
Developers? WhatsApp is not a high-quality app and there have been several laxly handled security issues.
Another user? I'm afraid the intersection of the WA and FB user sets will be quite large and it's unlikely that anything will drive WA users to use FB if they keep the promise of keeping WA separate from FB. Moreover, most of those who do not use FB today have a reason for it.
It just seems to me that the only reason for the purchase is access to users' personal information - especially contact lists.
This is the reason for me to say goodbye to WhatsApp.
*I don't know anyone who would pay for WA. My free year was supposed to expire sometime in December myself, but I got a message some time before the end that I had another year free. WA also offers discounted subscriptions for several years, and FB probably won't see much of that money, which again delays the return.
Absorbing the competition is also a decent return, or how not to disappear after a while. Which FB gradually predicted.
I will never update whatsapp, I will continue to use it in the current version and I will not destroy the perfection forever with some embarrassing update from Facebook let me get stabbed!!!! I also disabled the automatic updates of WhatsApp, the application is perfect even without an update and it is clear that if an update comes to your WhatsApp in the future, Facebook will have a hand in it, keep your eyes peeled!!!!!! I will use whatsapp as it is currently, it is missing nothing, it works so cus hello bazaar fb