Facebook Whatsapp
Facebook’s Acquisition of WhatsApp
WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging application which allows people to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. Last year, Facebook announced to acquire WhatsApp for a total of approximately $16 billion, including $4 billion in cash and approximately $12 billion worth of Facebook shares. The agreement also provides for an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp’s founders and employees that will vest over four years subsequent to closing. Fortunately for those parties, the value of Facebook’s shares were higher upon the closing of the deal than they were when the deal was announced in February, making the deal worth around $21.8 billion.
The acquisition is believed to support Facebook and WhatsApp’s shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core internet services efficiently and affordably. However, months after the acquisition, possible risks have emerged which include privacy concerns, different business models and outage.
As represented by the CEO and co-founder Jan Koum of WhatsApp, WhatsApp was built around the goal of knowing as little about its users as possible. Having said that, WhatsApp takes their users’ privacy as top priority. None of users’ personal data has ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and they have no plans to change that. Although WhatsApp WhatsApp remain as an independent after the acquisition, there is still some concerns that Facebook may change "Terms of Service" of WhatsApp in the future.
WhatsApp business model does not include ads. WhatsApp’s latest blog post reads in part “Here’s what will change for you, our users: nothing.” Instead, it offers its users one year of free service, and from the second year on, users pay a small fee of $0.99 annually. This is a much different model from Facebook and this lack of advertising revenue from WhatsApp will make it very difficult for Facebook to
WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging application which allows people to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. Last year, Facebook announced to acquire WhatsApp for a total of approximately $16 billion, including $4 billion in cash and approximately $12 billion worth of Facebook shares. The agreement also provides for an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units to be granted to WhatsApp’s founders and employees that will vest over four years subsequent to closing. Fortunately for those parties, the value of Facebook’s shares were higher upon the closing of the deal than they were when the deal was announced in February, making the deal worth around $21.8 billion.
The acquisition is believed to support Facebook and WhatsApp’s shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core internet services efficiently and affordably. However, months after the acquisition, possible risks have emerged which include privacy concerns, different business models and outage.
As represented by the CEO and co-founder Jan Koum of WhatsApp, WhatsApp was built around the goal of knowing as little about its users as possible. Having said that, WhatsApp takes their users’ privacy as top priority. None of users’ personal data has ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and they have no plans to change that. Although WhatsApp WhatsApp remain as an independent after the acquisition, there is still some concerns that Facebook may change "Terms of Service" of WhatsApp in the future.
WhatsApp business model does not include ads. WhatsApp’s latest blog post reads in part “Here’s what will change for you, our users: nothing.” Instead, it offers its users one year of free service, and from the second year on, users pay a small fee of $0.99 annually. This is a much different model from Facebook and this lack of advertising revenue from WhatsApp will make it very difficult for Facebook to