Almost five years ago we started WhatsApp with a simple mission: building a cool product used globally by everybody. Nothing else mattered to us.
Today we are announcing a partnership with Facebook that will allow us to continue on that simple mission. Doing this will give WhatsApp the flexibility to grow and expand, while giving me, Brian, and the rest of our team more time to focus on building a communications service that’s as fast, affordable and personal as possible.
Here’s what will change for you, our users: nothing.
WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. You can continue to enjoy the service for a nominal fee. You can continue to use WhatsApp no matter where in the world you are, or what smartphone you’re using. And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication. There would have been no partnership between our two companies if we had to compromise on the core principles that will always define our company, our vision and our product.
On a personal note, Brian and I couldn’t be more proud to be part of a small team of people who, in just under five years, built a communication service that now supports over 450 million monthly active users worldwide and over 320 million daily active users. They have helped re-define and revolutionize communication for the 21st century, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Our team has always believed that neither cost and distance should ever prevent people from connecting with their friends and loved ones, and won’t rest until everyone, everywhere is empowered with that opportunity. We want to thank all of our users and everybody in our lives for making this next chapter possible, and for joining us as we continue on this very special journey.
what exactly do you expect them to write? "We just sold out our ethics for $16B, so run, run away, quickly!!" ?
WhatApp was able to grow and be quite successful without Facebook. I don't believe "needed" $16B to make things better and to "partner" with FB. They sold out, cashed in, whatever you want to call it. plain and simple. Actions speak louder than words, spin this as they like. they sold out their ethics. You don't accidentally get acquired unless you are willing to sell your control in exchange for a very large check. If they believed in FB and in "partnering", you don't need to give up control and you don't need a big check. FB could have simply giving them money without acquiring them, or better yet make them a wholly owned subsidiary allowing WhatApp to continue to be self managed. The truth is, FB has no interest in spending $16B on IM without total access to your communications for exploit as they see fit to maximize return on investment. Its not a partnership its an acquisition. Say goodbye to the old boss, hello to the new boss and along with it the FB business model.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a prepared statement. "I've known [WhatsApp founder Jan Koum] for a long time and I'm excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected."
translation key:
I've known Jan Koum for a long time = Hello, I'm a friend; I come in peace. I'm just like family.
partner = all the value is in existing user base.. don't freak out and leave or our $16B would have been wasted for nothing.
world more open = we want OPEN access to your information
Once they merge and purge, FB will find out how many Whatsapp users are already FB users.
Yeah there will probably be overlap. If Facebook at least keeps the subscription of $0.99 per year, that'll be a decent amount of revenue. They expect the users to grow to 1 billion soon. $1b in revenue per year from subscriptions plus potential to monetize new contacts on Facebook and vice versa (get Facebook users to subscribe to Whatsapp) doesn't make the purchase price seem too bad.
but doesn't really explain much. They're not even going to replace their own messaging apps but run both separately.
I wonder if Google or Yahoo wants to buy one. Someone make Flappy Candy Chat that plays fart noises when you get a message and promise users won't get ads or privacy invasion so teens can feel safe sexting each other and then sell it on to someone who sells ads and invades privacy.
I think that's what these chat apps are mainly for: teens texting each other, not running up huge bills, sending nude pics. The problem with things like Facebook is they get all the family involved. Teens don't want that.
Some people aren't even aware of how much they share online but one bad experience should set them right:
[VIDEO]
I guess they don't expect strangers to have any reason to look things up but the companies are those strangers. It'll be interesting to see if users drop WhatsApp in large numbers after this takeover.
WhatsApp is a beautiful acquisition for Facebook, because WhatsApp won't do diddly-squat until a user gives the app access to their entire contact list.
what exactly do you expect them to write? "We just sold out our ethics for $16B, so run, run away, quickly!!" ?
WhatApp was able to grow and be quite successful without Facebook. I don't believe "needed" $16B to make things better and to "partner" with FB. They sold out, cashed in, whatever you want to call it. plain and simple. Actions speak louder than words, spin this as they like. they sold out their ethics. You don't accidentally get acquired unless you are willing to sell your control in exchange for a very large check. If they believed in FB and in "partnering", you don't need to give up control and you don't need a big check. FB could have simply giving them money without acquiring them, or better yet make them a wholly owned subsidiary allowing WhatApp to continue to be self managed. The truth is, FB has no interest in spending $16B on IM without total access to your communications for exploit as they see fit to maximize return on investment. Its not a partnership its an acquisition. Say goodbye to the old boss, hello to the new boss and along with it the FB business model.
...Ah, yes, THE Facebook business model. Allow me to explain it:
1. Total control by an immature egomaniac.
2. Unexpected changes in privacy settings.
3. Data mining of every status posting you make.
4. Unexpected and unrequested mapping of all of your connections and friends.
5, Unexplained relationship of Facebook users to Facebook management: YOU are its PRODUCT, not its CUSTOMER.
I seem to remember that the talk of a bubble and the pop were only several months apart last time.
But then I also remember that it was the "election" of the "president" was what ended the party. So you may not want to quote me on this.
The last "tech" bubble was late in the previous century... What president was that?
I'm inclined to say that we should see a tech bubble "pop" within a year. Goggle is likely to make the biggest "pop" of all. Anyone want to suggest a company that may exceed Goggle's "pop"???
The last "tech" bubble was late in the previous century... What president was that?
?? Clint stone! Meet the Clint stone! He doesn’t-live-in-a-country-where-the-stone-is-an-acceptable-unit-of-measure-to-switch-freely-with-the-toooooon! ??
I'm inclined to say that we should see a tech bubble "pop" within a year. Goggle is likely to make the biggest "pop" of all. Anyone want to suggest a company that may exceed Goggle's "pop"???
Would the length of the last bubble be a metric to figure out how long this one will last?
Really, it’s becoming quite a lucrative practice to create an “indie” app that involves social interaction. Just make something simple that aggregates a subsection of personal information not yet gathered by The Big Two, sit on your laurels while it grows, and then wait for the buyout.
You’ll become a billionaire and… oh, by the way, I may have just signed this paper officially turning the company’s assets over to you, but it turns out the information we gathered was destroyed in a fire.
Apple should finally publish the iMessage/FaceTime specs as they originally promised; the reality is there are Android phones, and when faced with the choice of cross-platform protocols or single platform protocol, cross-platform wins due to (quite literally) network effects. So without open specs that allow third parties to make iMessage/FaceTime compatible apps on other phones, Apple undermines the utility and penetration of their own products. I keep using Skype and to a lesser degree WhatsApp and Viber because all three allow me to reach friends using a variety of different phones, incl. the iPhone. The iMessage/FaceTime contacts list is rather short, and the apps only see use in special cases or when I actually send an SMS to a relative stranger which then ocasionally gets converted to an iMessage. I much rather see iMessage/FaceTime gain more users.
Apple should finally publish the iMessage/FaceTime specs as they originally promised; the reality is there are Android phones, and when faced with the choice of cross-platform protocols or single platform protocol, cross-platform wins due to (quite literally) network effects. < , , , >
I'm guessing that Steve didn't think through how long it was going to take to build out a data network capable of handling the traffic of millions of Apple-only FaceTime calls, let alone the traffic of more 100s of millions of Android rabble.
Already, you still can't get Siri to make a call for you on a Friday or Saturday evening. They got a lot of data centers to build and who knows what else before they open up FaceTime.
what exactly do you expect them to write? "We just sold out our ethics for $16B, so run, run away, quickly!!" ?
WhatApp was able to grow and be quite successful without Facebook. I don't believe "needed" $16B to make things better and to "partner" with FB. They sold out, cashed in, whatever you want to call it. plain and simple. Actions speak louder than words, spin this as they like. they sold out their ethics. You don't accidentally get acquired unless you are willing to sell your control in exchange for a very large check. If they believed in FB and in "partnering", you don't need to give up control and you don't need a big check. FB could have simply giving them money without acquiring them, or better yet make them a wholly owned subsidiary allowing WhatApp to continue to be self managed. The truth is, FB has no interest in spending $16B on IM without total access to your communications for exploit as they see fit to maximize return on investment. Its not a partnership its an acquisition. Say goodbye to the old boss, hello to the new boss and along with it the FB business model.
Yeah, but $4B (or 16 or 19) is a ridiculous amount of money, especially for this app. The company wouldn't make this much money over the next 10 years - why not sell what you built to someone who overpays by a factor of 10? Capitalize on the stupidity of others.
If I were him, I'd leave it to Zuck and start something else. Or not.
This is what you call stupid money purchase, FB has more money and stock value than sense, this investment will never return close to what they spent. You have Google and now FB making buys so they other guy does not get it.
This is what you call stupid money purchase, FB has more money and stock value than sense, this investment will never return close to what they spent. You have Google and now FB making buys so they other guy does not get it.
and yet all morning CNBC is throwing on guests who claim this was brilliant, is going to be so awesome for Facebook, they didn't overpay, ect. I'm not sure how they can say that with a straight face. $19B for an instant messaging app and a CEO who says he's not interested in monitization? Give me a break.
Comments
FB phone did not work. FB messenger did not work either. What makes FB think people want their communications to be captured by FB?
glad I never bought into Whatsapp, if I had I'd be finding myself a different way to IM.
They wrote on their blog the following:
Almost five years ago we started WhatsApp with a simple mission: building a cool product used globally by everybody. Nothing else mattered to us.
Today we are announcing a partnership with Facebook that will allow us to continue on that simple mission. Doing this will give WhatsApp the flexibility to grow and expand, while giving me, Brian, and the rest of our team more time to focus on building a communications service that’s as fast, affordable and personal as possible.
Here’s what will change for you, our users: nothing.
WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. You can continue to enjoy the service for a nominal fee. You can continue to use WhatsApp no matter where in the world you are, or what smartphone you’re using. And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication. There would have been no partnership between our two companies if we had to compromise on the core principles that will always define our company, our vision and our product.
On a personal note, Brian and I couldn’t be more proud to be part of a small team of people who, in just under five years, built a communication service that now supports over 450 million monthly active users worldwide and over 320 million daily active users. They have helped re-define and revolutionize communication for the 21st century, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Our team has always believed that neither cost and distance should ever prevent people from connecting with their friends and loved ones, and won’t rest until everyone, everywhere is empowered with that opportunity. We want to thank all of our users and everybody in our lives for making this next chapter possible, and for joining us as we continue on this very special journey.
what exactly do you expect them to write? "We just sold out our ethics for $16B, so run, run away, quickly!!" ?
WhatApp was able to grow and be quite successful without Facebook. I don't believe "needed" $16B to make things better and to "partner" with FB. They sold out, cashed in, whatever you want to call it. plain and simple. Actions speak louder than words, spin this as they like. they sold out their ethics. You don't accidentally get acquired unless you are willing to sell your control in exchange for a very large check. If they believed in FB and in "partnering", you don't need to give up control and you don't need a big check. FB could have simply giving them money without acquiring them, or better yet make them a wholly owned subsidiary allowing WhatApp to continue to be self managed. The truth is, FB has no interest in spending $16B on IM without total access to your communications for exploit as they see fit to maximize return on investment. Its not a partnership its an acquisition. Say goodbye to the old boss, hello to the new boss and along with it the FB business model.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a prepared statement. "I've known [WhatsApp founder Jan Koum] for a long time and I'm excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected."
translation key:
I've known Jan Koum for a long time = Hello, I'm a friend; I come in peace. I'm just like family.
partner = all the value is in existing user base.. don't freak out and leave or our $16B would have been wasted for nothing.
world more open = we want OPEN access to your information
and connected = and what you say to others
Yeah there will probably be overlap. If Facebook at least keeps the subscription of $0.99 per year, that'll be a decent amount of revenue. They expect the users to grow to 1 billion soon. $1b in revenue per year from subscriptions plus potential to monetize new contacts on Facebook and vice versa (get Facebook users to subscribe to Whatsapp) doesn't make the purchase price seem too bad.
Zuckerberg talked about the purchase here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/10650340/Facebook-buys-WhatsApp-Mark-Zuckerberg-explains-why.html
but doesn't really explain much. They're not even going to replace their own messaging apps but run both separately.
I wonder if Google or Yahoo wants to buy one. Someone make Flappy Candy Chat that plays fart noises when you get a message and promise users won't get ads or privacy invasion so teens can feel safe sexting each other and then sell it on to someone who sells ads and invades privacy.
I think that's what these chat apps are mainly for: teens texting each other, not running up huge bills, sending nude pics. The problem with things like Facebook is they get all the family involved. Teens don't want that.
Some people aren't even aware of how much they share online but one bad experience should set them right:
[VIDEO]
I guess they don't expect strangers to have any reason to look things up but the companies are those strangers. It'll be interesting to see if users drop WhatsApp in large numbers after this takeover.
WhatsApp is a beautiful acquisition for Facebook, because WhatsApp won't do diddly-squat until a user gives the app access to their entire contact list.
Suckers!
" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />
It's STILL a transfer of $16,000,000,000 of assets.
I think Apple is the only remaining high-flying company with a sound understanding of the value of a Billion Dollars.
...Ah, yes, THE Facebook business model. Allow me to explain it:
1. Total control by an immature egomaniac.
2. Unexpected changes in privacy settings.
3. Data mining of every status posting you make.
4. Unexpected and unrequested mapping of all of your connections and friends.
5, Unexplained relationship of Facebook users to Facebook management: YOU are its PRODUCT, not its CUSTOMER.
DELETE, DELETE, DELETE!
?Clear your histories while you still can. One DELETE, first things they do is to make everything permanent.
And delete your accounts as well.
The last "tech" bubble was late in the previous century... What president was that?
I'm inclined to say that we should see a tech bubble "pop" within a year. Goggle is likely to make the biggest "pop" of all. Anyone want to suggest a company that may exceed Goggle's "pop"???
?? Clint stone! Meet the Clint stone! He doesn’t-live-in-a-country-where-the-stone-is-an-acceptable-unit-of-measure-to-switch-freely-with-the-toooooon! ??
Would the length of the last bubble be a metric to figure out how long this one will last?
Facebook buys WhatsApp?
1. Delete all messages and conversations right now.
2. Deactivate account, preferably before the acquisition process is over.
3. Hahahaha, $19 billions (with a 'b')? hahahahah
Really, it’s becoming quite a lucrative practice to create an “indie” app that involves social interaction. Just make something simple that aggregates a subsection of personal information not yet gathered by The Big Two, sit on your laurels while it grows, and then wait for the buyout.
You’ll become a billionaire and… oh, by the way, I may have just signed this paper officially turning the company’s assets over to you, but it turns out the information we gathered was destroyed in a fire.
So without open specs that allow third parties to make iMessage/FaceTime compatible apps on other phones, Apple undermines the utility and penetration of their own products.
I keep using Skype and to a lesser degree WhatsApp and Viber because all three allow me to reach friends using a variety of different phones, incl. the iPhone.
The iMessage/FaceTime contacts list is rather short, and the apps only see use in special cases or when I actually send an SMS to a relative stranger which then ocasionally gets converted to an iMessage.
I much rather see iMessage/FaceTime gain more users.
I'm guessing that Steve didn't think through how long it was going to take to build out a data network capable of handling the traffic of millions of Apple-only FaceTime calls, let alone the traffic of more 100s of millions of Android rabble.
Already, you still can't get Siri to make a call for you on a Friday or Saturday evening. They got a lot of data centers to build and who knows what else before they open up FaceTime.
I'll just say it was winter of '99 and a cold wind was blowing from Texas, and someone decided to let the curtain down.
JUMP
THE
SHARK!
what exactly do you expect them to write? "We just sold out our ethics for $16B, so run, run away, quickly!!" ?
WhatApp was able to grow and be quite successful without Facebook. I don't believe "needed" $16B to make things better and to "partner" with FB. They sold out, cashed in, whatever you want to call it. plain and simple. Actions speak louder than words, spin this as they like. they sold out their ethics. You don't accidentally get acquired unless you are willing to sell your control in exchange for a very large check. If they believed in FB and in "partnering", you don't need to give up control and you don't need a big check. FB could have simply giving them money without acquiring them, or better yet make them a wholly owned subsidiary allowing WhatApp to continue to be self managed. The truth is, FB has no interest in spending $16B on IM without total access to your communications for exploit as they see fit to maximize return on investment. Its not a partnership its an acquisition. Say goodbye to the old boss, hello to the new boss and along with it the FB business model.
Yeah, but $4B (or 16 or 19) is a ridiculous amount of money, especially for this app. The company wouldn't make this much money over the next 10 years - why not sell what you built to someone who overpays by a factor of 10? Capitalize on the stupidity of others.
If I were him, I'd leave it to Zuck and start something else. Or not.
And only Apple will be sitting pretty with billions in the bank.