Yeah, $16b is expensive and the purchase multiple is big, but this should help Facebook retain users in the long run.
It is big overseas, and with the kiddos. However, like every app that sells for this much - it isn't worth it. I disagree, this one really baffles me. Sure, it is a popular service - especially outside of the US but was it really worth $47.50 per user? That is just insane. The price was actually 19.5 billion, at 400 million users (at least 10% spam/dead) that's nearly $50 per user account.
This is pretty hilarious, apparently the founder of WhatsApp applied for a job with Facebook and was turned down. Here is his tweet from four years ago. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life's next adventure.</p>— Brian Acton (@brianacton) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianacton/statuses/3109544383">August 3, 2009</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Some users (like Chinese users) skip FB completely and just use WeChat (the Chinese equivalent of Whatsapp) to socialise. You can build whatsapp out into a social platform based on messaging rather than on content, and FB wants to make sure that its grip on mobile devices is solid. Also I'm pretty sure this is a sign that FB messaging app has been a failure and they know they need to buy access to ppl bypassing FB. That being said, I would love to see the valuation that Morgan Stanley (advising Whatsapp) used,how on earth did they come up with $19 billion? Just to compare, the market cap of some firm worth around 19 billion right now include Whole Foods, seagate, NetFlix etc. They must be expecting a ton of growth but from where...
I would have thought phone to phone texting via the internet is nothing new or special. What makes Whatsapp better than the competitors? Were they the first to do it + patented it?
IT also lets you send voice memos, shares your location, send video and pictures and just already has a large user base so you know people use it.
Are there really that many poors in the world who can't afford unlimited texts on their phones? The poverty in this thread. A pity
I use it all the time to communicate with family/friends outside the US. Very popular in Latin America and Europe. I also use it at work as I don't get signal from crappy Tmobile but I do have wifi.
