Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#471

Post by michaelmior » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:15 AM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #394

qq66 wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no such thing as a decentralized conmunications tool. Even email requires the centralization provided by ICANN.

You can send email without using DNS. I'm not sure I'd call IP addresses centralised, if perhaps you were thinking of ICANN's running of IANA? If you consider the internet inherently "centralised" then surely you'd still find CB radio or similar to be decentralised. Or do you also consider the allocation of wavebands to be "centralised"?

Depends on how far you want to push the definition of decentralized. The routing infrastructure of the Internet is still fairly centralized as is the allocation of IP addresses.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#472

Post by hoi » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:15 AM UTC

Makes perfect sense if you put it into the context of what is happening to other messaging apps. Wrote this a few days ago before Viber and now this acquisition. http://www.hoista.net/post/76404923258/the-rise-of-trojan-ho...

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#473

Post by MatthiasP » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:17 AM UTC

ForHackernews wrote: post #224

philp wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatsapp has virtually no market share in the US. In basically all markets outside of the US, however, they are dominating the messaging space. Text messages in major EU countries like Germany and France have been almost completely supplanted by WhatsApp.

Is that because SMS costs a fortune in Europe? As an American with unlimited SMS/MMS, I don't see the point of WhatsApp at all. I guess maybe if I wanted to send a text to somebody in Europe.

Nationwide SMS is dirt cheap in most of Europe too. But the cost goes up rapidly when you send messages across borders, say from Italy to Germany. And international MMS are just ridiculously expensive. A friend of mine once paid ~5€ for a single MMS sent from Croatia to Germany. Croatian, Slovenian and Austrian telcos all wanted their share of roaming fees.

With WhatsApp you don't need to worry about all these things.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#474

Post by sentenza » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:19 AM UTC

JetSpiegel wrote: post #240

huskyr wrote: post #132

Facebook suddenly acquired the world's (if we exclude the US and China) most popular messaging service. I communicate with this app with all my friends, and share stuff that i have no intention of ever putting on Facebook. Everything that once seemed 'private' is now in the hands of a website that forces it users to share as much as possible with marketeers and advertising companies. It's gonna be one tough mission f…

"(if we exclude the US and China)" That's at least half of the world, if not in users, at least in revenue. What the hell!

Less than half. Europe and India easily make up for the US and China and then you still have South- and Middle America as well as South-East Asia (and Africa).

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#475

Post by john2x » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:19 AM UTC

gamegoblin wrote: post #11

That is a LOT of money. That being said, I use WhatsApp every day to chat with my friends around the world and it's really excellent. I know it's used a lot in other parts of the world even more, so I doubt this purchase is focused on US markets. It seems that every one of my Arab friends uses WhatsApp to talk to their families back home (and they use it at home, too). I don't know about other regions.

Viber and WhatsApp are about 50/50 here in the Philippines. Used mostly for international messaging.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#476

Post by jeroen » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:22 AM UTC

jacklionheart wrote: post #383

hackinthebochs wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I conjecture that this price is a reflection of the fact that facebook realizes their stock is way overvalued, and so they used this opportunity to make a huge purchase which would be too expensive otherwise. The fact that a huge amount of the purchase price in stock is a strong signal for this. These same sorts of deals happened in the first internet bubble (although this is clearly different as there is also a huge…

This doesn't make much sense to me since most of the transaction was in cash.

No, it isn't:

"The deal is being cut for $12 billion in Facebook shares, $4 billion in cash and an additional $3 billion in RSUs for employee retention."

21% cash.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#477

Post by sentenza » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:22 AM UTC

dba7dba wrote: post #111

gms wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't feel bad; no one really uses them in the US (except us foreigners to communicate with friends and family abroad). They are the de-facto messaging service in the rest of the world (except for China).

Not true. KakaoTalk is big in S Korea. LINE is big in Japan. Quick check shows of 300 million registered LINE users and 50 million are in Japan.

And Orkut was number one in Brasil, but in the end, the network effect doesn't care for cultural borders (with the exception of the Great Firewall).

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#478

Post by jcdavis » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:22 AM UTC

kayoone wrote: post #231

dba7dba wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

same old texting.

interesting, i suppose its free? because it isn't here in germany which is why whatsapp is massively popular.

Yep. Most of the new plans the carriers in the US have rolled out recently have unlimited minutes + texting as standard, and then charge extra based on data limits. Not exactly cheap mind you, but that's how its structured. Even my cheapo $30/mo T-mobile prepaid includes unlimited texting.

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#479

Post by sentenza » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:23 AM UTC

to3m wrote: post #315

qqg3 wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bullshit, I'm in the UK, everybody I know uses WhatsApp.

Rubbish! I'm in the UK, and I've never even heard of WhatsApp.

Are you over 30?

Seriously, I went to sit in with a few University freshmen recently here in Germany and they all used it. (They didn't know the Back to the Future movies, though!)

Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs

#480

Post by fnordfnordfnord » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 1:25 AM UTC

nullspace wrote: post #422

crucialfelix wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WhatsApp has huge global growth. I heard that little chirp everywhere I went in India. friends in Africa use it all the time. in countries with SMS charges, whatsapp is a good deal.

> in countries with SMS charges The funny thing is that in places like USA, you pay exorbitant amounts (~20 USD per month) for text messaging (when the real cost should be almost 0), yet it's still not caught on here - which is kinda sad.

It's usually bundled with data, isn't it?