does this mean Viber should feel ripped off at $900m?
Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
521–530 of 831 posts
Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
#522Interesting to see that they use Erlang. http://www.erlang-factory.com/conference/SFBay2012/speakers/... I wonder if this is still valid?
Yes, here's a quote from the FreeBSD Foundation's July 2013 newsletter: At WhatsApp we leverage FreeBSD and Erlang to provide industry record uptime. The ability to scale linearly on commodity hardware has allowed WhatsApp to keep our serving costs low. These days we run anywhere between 2 million and 3 million concurrent TCP connections on a single FreeBSD server... https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/press/2013Jul-ne…
Wow! 2-3 million concurrent TCP connections? I just discovered C10K last year :( Is this a fundamental difference between thread based networking and evented network IO? What am I missing?
Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
#523Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll admit to a distinct feeling, that I've started to lose touch with pop technology. I've never heard of WhatsApp. Though I had most definitely heard of Hotmail in 1998.
It's not really "pop" technology. Surprisingly, it's not used much in the United States, but in India it's basically a replacement for text messaging. Everyone from a 13 year old child to my grand mom uses it to keep in touch with friends and family members across the globe. IMHO, they were able to get to such widespread everyday usage because they such awesome and reliable technology. Much better than what Google ha…
This suggests that its userbase is EXACTLY complementary for Facebook.
Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
#524Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's just because it matters more that we have all of our contacts than save $20 a month. I think you'd need higher priced SMS or a very large WhatsApp userbase.
That is a very good point, even if you don't immediately realize the deeper implications. :) In India, you generally pay per text message - so if you can convince even 3 of your close friends to start using Whatsapp, you save (say) 20% of your phone bill. Here in US, if you are going to send more than a few texts a month, you are going to be paying 20 USD. So there is no real monetary incentive (initially) for you an…
So why didn't Indian telecoms implement all-you-can-eat messaging to stop the erosion of users moving to WhatsApp?
Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
#525Facebook going to mobile operator business. They have very good relationship with Microsoft. Microsoft has mobile platform and Nokia and Skype. I think FB + MS will create something to change whole telecommunication platform. Many mobile operator companies afraid that.
Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
#526Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is their stock overvalued? Do you have any evidence of this beyond you thinking there is a bubble? Honestly curious, since it seems to me their stock is rising for a reason: the fundamentals of the company are strong, and they have demonstrated an ability to rapidly react to new trends.
>Why is their stock overvalued? Because delusional people still didn't learn their lesson from the first bubble. >Do you have any evidence of this Their P/E is 112. That's the very definition of overvalued. The price of their stock makes the company worth far more than they earn. If you purchased facebook, it would take you 112 years to break even on that "investment" at their current earning rate.
Consensus analyst 12 month estimate (Feb 15th) is Hi: $82, Lo:$24, Mean: $70. So basically, consensus growth on the year in the stock price is 3%. Compare that to a market of 32% last year. Does not look like the analysts think FB is going to grow much. It's going to take a while to grow into that valuation.
Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
#527Earlier quoted context omitted.
Social isn't serious. It really shouldn't be.
Obviously the best way to communicate is via carrier pigeons.
I'm saying this isn't needed and serious innovation. It's a popularity and standards game. We definitely didn't use carrier pigeons before Whatsapp. IM clients have been ubiquitous for years.
Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
#528From the press release[0]: "... and WhatsApp’s core messaging product and Facebook’s existing Messenger app will continue to operate as standalone applications." Why is that, I wonder. I was really excited when I heard the news since WhatsApp is the most used app and Facebook Messenger is the second, they becoming one would have been nice. And chatting my friends on WhatsApp using Facebook Messenger [on the web] woul…
Trust me. They will change. A year or two later they will add some integration with FB. I am sure they have a bigger plan for the future (instagram, whatsapp, fb) in one platform.
Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
#529My uncle in India runs a construction company, and literally every single aspect of company communication is done over WhatsApp. Each construction site has to constantly post pictures on WhatsApp, and basically all management and payroll decisions are made through WhatsApp discussions. Apparently this is not an uncommon practice, as businesses that were once administered by pen and paper are now using WhatsApp to imp…
What's special about Whatsapp that made them choose this platform rather than (say) email, any other chap app, or even Facebook itself?
It's simple. It's instant. Not everyone (especially in Asia) has a Facebook account or even wants on. SMS was already what was powering communications in Asia. Whatsapp took SMS , added images, group chat and removed the cost.
Also, it was free and works on Android (Very important in South Asia).
Many older people get smartphones just to use whatsapp to communicate with others. I'm not joking. I upgraded my mom to a smartphone against her will so that she can use whatsapp to communicate with friends and family more easily.
Re: Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
#530Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pretty amazing that this is precisely what Microsoft paid for Hotmail in 1998 : $400 million for 10 million users = $40 / User. [1] The parallels are striking : Whatsapp is to messaging today what Hotmail was to messaging in the late '90s. [1] http://news.cnet.com/2100-1033-206717.html
Microsoft also paid $8.5 billion for 663 million Skype users in 2011, which works out to $12.82/user.
You are comparing Skype to WhatsApp? Don't you think it's kind of apples and oranges? Skype had technology that Facebook itself uses for video chat and WhatsApp supposedly has a large user base which mysteriously enough is so different than FB user base, that it's worth $16b?