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

#51

Post by karl_gluck » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:20 PM UTC

Karunamon wrote: post #3

Welp. There's another app that I won't be accepting any updates for from now on...

I would agree, but if you don't update WhatsApp it disables itself after a week or so.

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

#52

Post by taternuts » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:20 PM UTC

nkuttler wrote: post #10

Good for them! Now on to uninstalling it :-(

As someone who installed it to see how it works and rarely uses it, this is the first thought that crossed my mind

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

#53

Post by smackfu » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:20 PM UTC

napoleond wrote: post #47

How many active users does WhatsApp have? I'm trying to put this in perspective with the Instagram purchase and the Snapchat offer... finding it very difficult to understand the math behind this acquisition, although it is obviously linked to the recent plays with Messenger.

430m active users and 18bn messages sent per day.

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

#54

Post by patrickaljord » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

berzniz wrote: post #20

I wish they didn't sell. Love the product, FB will ruin it.

Why would they ruin it? They didn't ruin instagram. I'm not a fan of facebook but I don't agree here.

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

#55

Post by gailees » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

HOLY SHIT!

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

#56

Post by antr » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

carlozt03 wrote: post #39

antr wrote: post #17

I used WhatsApp to stay away from FB's chat app. Telegram is picking up popularity within my circles... I'll default to that

How'd you get your friends to move over to Telegram? I'm trying to get that ball moving with my circle of friends.

I didn't... they started showing up on my contact list. I then found out that they read about the app on the newspaper.

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

#57

Post by calcsam » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

This deal isn't so that Facebook can sell ads. This deal is so that Facebook can protect its flank and simultaneously assault Google.

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

#58

Post by asselinpaul » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

psbp wrote: post #25

minimaxir wrote: post #2

Suddenly Snapchat at $3B doesn't seem so ridiculous.

They both seem ridiculous.

no, I can see how Snapchat is unique and fresh. WhatsApp brings nothing new to the table.

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

#59

Post by kevincrane » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

techaddict009 wrote: post #37

jljljl wrote: post #19

http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2012/06/why-we-dont-sell-...

Seems like by tomorrow this blog post well get deleted from the blog!!

WhatsApp seems to think themselves above ads still. If they're lucky it'll stay that way.

http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2014/02/facebook/

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

#60

Post by nwh » Wed, Feb 19, 2014, 10:21 PM UTC

    400,000,000 active users [0]
    16,000,000,000 USD
    ----
    $40 per user

That's an incredible cost. We can assume Facebook is paying for the userbase, the app itself and it's infrastructure would basically run itself. It's less appealing when you realise that there's probably a miniscule fraction of WhatsApp users that don't have a Facebook account.

> WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. You can continue to enjoy the service for a nominal fee

Now it makes even less sense.

[0]: http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2013/12/400-million-stori...