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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

#811

Post by pbhjpbhj »

shittyanalogy wrote: post #538
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting to note from Whatsapp legal info that they say it's only for USA based users. cf my comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7267310 or http://www.whatsapp.com/legal/

The TOS doesn't say "only for" it says: "The Service is controlled and offered by WhatsApp from its facilities in the United States of America. WhatsApp makes no representations that the WhatsApp Service is appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use the WhatsApp Service from other jurisdictions do so at their own volition and are responsible for compliance with local law."

2 days ago it read [and still reads]:

>"Special Note to International Users

>"The WhatsApp Site and Service are hosted in the United States and are intended for and directed to users in the United States. If you are a user accessing the WhatsApp Site and Service from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure, that differ from United States laws, please be advised that through your continued use of the WhatsApp Site and Service, which are governed by California law, this Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Service, you are transferring your personal information to the United States and you expressly consent to that transfer and consent to be governed by California law for these purposes." //

Indeed checking now, from UK on 21 Feb 2014, http://www.whatsapp.com/legal/ still reads as above.

"intended for and directed to users in the United States"

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

#812

Post by DanBC »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #811
shittyanalogy wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The TOS doesn't say "only for" it says: "The Service is controlled and offered by WhatsApp from its facilities in the United States of America. WhatsApp makes no representations that the WhatsApp Service is appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use the WhatsApp Service from other jurisdictions do so at their own volition and are responsible for compliance with local law."

2 days ago it read [and still reads]: >"Special Note to International Users >"The WhatsApp Site and Service are hosted in the United States and are intended for and directed to users in the United States. If you are a user accessing the WhatsApp Site and Service from the European Union, Asia, or any other region with laws or regulations governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure, that differ from United…

That's a bit shady since they don't mention that on the UK app store page.

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

#813

Post by pbhjpbhj »

zfran wrote: post #502
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting to note from Whatsapp legal info that they say it's only for USA based users. cf my comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7267310 or http://www.whatsapp.com/legal/

That's weird. They did lots of publicity with Nokia and Movistar in Argentina.

It is weird isn't it. But you can verify it by going to http://www.whatsapp.com/legal/ and reading the "Special note to international users".

My interpretation of this and a couple of other hints - you agree to transfer your info to the USA, anyone not blocked that has your phone number can read your communiques - is that they're saying that a USA TLA [or whoever] are guaranteed to be observing you when you use the service. But that could easily be misinterpretation on my part.

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

#814

Post by newscracker »

For those who're disturbed by this and would like to get away from WhatsApp, the least you can do is delete your WhatsApp account, followed by deleting the app itself. [This does not protect you from WhatsApp transferring all your data to Facebook]

Follow the instructions for your device to delete your WhatsApp account:

iPhone - http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/iphone/21325453

Android - http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/android/21119703

BB10 - http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/bb10/28020005

Windows Phone - http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/wp/21335316

Nokia - http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/nokia/21477616

Blackberry - http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/bb/21306771

---

Also, Telegram is wicked fast in my personal experience. I see a trickle of people joining Telegram over a period of time (well before this acquisition).

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

#815

Post by hnnewguy »

ajhit406 wrote: post #680
nwh wrote: post #60

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 contin…

This is an unsophisticated perspective. Have you seen how fast WhatsApp is growing? They could easily cross 1B users in a year. Daily actives are at 72%. They are insanely engaged. The move is probably largely anti-competitive, but there are certainly inroads to drive additional facebook engagement, which further boosts revenues. It's expensive, but remember that FB is a 170B company. Lets just hope that FB doesn't g…

Personally, I think citing user growth numbers is an unsophisticated perspective.

Engagement doesn't directly translate into money.

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

#817

Post by vassvdm »

Cookingboy wrote: post #353
hatred wrote: post #38

Today , I feel I am really bad at maths counting return percentages. Sigh $8m -> $16b.

I did it this way: 100x return is 800M, 200x return is 1.6B, so 16B is 2000X return, which is 200,000% return in initial investment. I think it's less than that though, since obviously Sequoia didn't get 100% of the company for their 8M, I think they walked away with 2.4B after this deal?

Whatsapp raised another 50m from Sequoia after those initial 8m

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

#820

Post by robodale »

ams6110 wrote: post #405
pitchups wrote: post #131

Earlier 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

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.

Don't worry - I have not heard of it either. $19 billion dollars. For that.
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