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

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

#761

Post by paramsingh »

nly wrote: post #345
dhoulb wrote: post #196

I just can't get my head around that valuation. For something that's basically a feature, when they already have that functionality baked in, built out to a similar scale? It's not an acquisition for talent, or technology, so what is it? It's an acquisition for investors probably. To argue back against the people who say the kids are leaving FB. Well guess what, we BOUGHT the thing the kids are using. And it's 'mobil…

> It's not an acquisition for talent, or technology, so what is it? http://i.imgur.com/yzo9kc1.jpg

This isn't reddit.

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

#762

Post by bluedino »

bricestacey wrote: post #598
atwebb wrote: post #458

Earlier 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.

Agreed, pretty much anyone in the United States above the poverty level seems willing to spend $20 a month for unlimited texting. I'm way above that, yet I opted for the pay per text plan and paid 20 cents per text. All my friends made fun of me, but I saved a few dollars since iMessage didn't count toward my costs. However, it effected how people without iPhones would naturally choose to interact with me. Basically,…

>> Agreed, pretty much anyone in the United States above the poverty level seems willing to spend $20 a month for unlimited texting.

Even if you are at poverty level and qualify for a free phone (through the Lifelink program, or 'Obamaphone') you still get something like 250 texts included with that

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

#763

Post by jmpe »

crucialfelix wrote: post #740
nullspace wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I remember that the US didn't really use SMS for a long time, but everybody in Europe did. The US at the time had generous calling plans, and people there didn't yet discover the nice social effect of communicating silently (with texting).

They used bait & switch in Europe (at least where I was) to entice SMS adoption. There was a multitude of free SMS services: online sites where you could send someone a message for free or SMS a service that would forward it without being charged. Then, in the span of a few weeks, the services disappeared.

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

#764

Post by weavie »

timje1 wrote: post #729
weavie wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the UK and I'd never heard of WhatsApp until now. I wonder if a lot of these people who say 'X app is big in my country' actually just mean 'X app is popular within my social circle'.

I'm in London, and most people between 20 and 30 that I know of uses WhatsApp. Possibly it hasn't filtered to the rest of the country.

Devon here.. that probably explains it.

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

#765

Post by 650REDHAIR »

selectodude wrote: post #572
cortesoft wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are surely a lot of other shareholders besides the founders and sequoia.

They only received 8 million in funding though.

"They decided to hold a second funding round, in secret. Sequoia would invest another $50 million, valuing WhatsApp at $1.5 billion."

[0] http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/02/19/exclusive-...

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

#766

Post by 650REDHAIR »

asselinpaul wrote: post #58
psbp wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They both seem ridiculous.

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

WhatsApp brings Asia, Africa, and South America to the table.

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

#767

Post by rokhayakebe »

bagels wrote: post #552

I read all the comments, the whole time thinking about how crazy this number is. I read why people use it, because it is cheaper (free?) than the ridiculous pricing of SMS. So, I looked up the revenues generated by SMS, and it is estimated to be, according to a very cursory search: 150 Billion USD per year This is the number that Facebook is using to compare their offer against. It is not crazy if they can capture ev…

Most useful comment in this thread and everything else I've read on Pando, Forbes, Techcrunch, and every where else on the topic.

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

#768

Post by shurcooL »

cemregr wrote: post #169
shurcooL wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They ruined Divvy after buying it.

What is Divvy? If you mean Divvyshot I thought it was a talent acquisition.

Yes, sorry, I meant Divvyshot.

It solved a certain popular problem very nicely, and now there is no longer an equal offering.

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

#769

Post by pa5tabear »

argumentum wrote: post #407

To everyone calling this symptomatic of a "bubble", remember that WhatsApp was not hyped like SnapChat or Instagram. It wasn't associated with "sexting" or plugged by Celebrities. A few years ago, my cousin arrived from India to start undergrad here .. when picking out her new smartphone, here was only one requirement: it had to run WhatsApp. She didn't care whether it was an iPhone, android or blackberry (back when…

What was the timing for the html5 vs native decisions and corrections?

I'm assuming you're talking about the mobile applications running slowly for the first few years. I uninstalled a year ago and haven't checked back. I'm curious how things run these days.

And is the debate mainly focused on when webapps will take over? Or is it debated if it will occur at all?

I think with mobile hardware gaining so quickly we should see webapps equaling native within five years.

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

#770

Post by aestra »

treerock wrote: post #732
nullspace wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Still struggling to figure out why it's so popular. I read the other article[1] on the front page suggesting that the reason for the popularity is that the app works on low end handsets. But then so does SMS. Is the design of WhatsApp so much better than built in SMS, or is it just the fact that WhatsApp is free? [For me and most people I know SMS is virtually free, but I guess that's not the case around the world] […

[For me and most people I know SMS is virtually free, but I guess that's not the case around the world]

Define virtually free? I pay like 10 bucks a month for unlimited SMS, that's hardly virtually free!!! If I didn't they cost like 10 cents a message. That's an insane price for sending or receiving a very very small message that costs the phone companies almost nothing to send. I see it working well for say prepaid plans or barebones plans.

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