The BBC among others are reporting that popular messaging app WhatsApp has been bought by Facebook for an absolutely stunning $19 billion:
In a statement announcing the deal, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg described WhatsApp’s services as “incredibly valuable”.
It better be incredibly valuable for $19 billion. Here’s why Facebook was interested:
Cathy Boyle, a senior analyst at research firm eMarketer, said WhatsApp was valuable to Facebook for several reasons beyond advertising, including its younger user base and its popularity overseas.
“WhatsApp actually has greater penetration in a lot of international markets than Facebook,” Ms Boyle told the BBC.
She added that it was notable that Facebook’s chief financial officer David Ebersman referred to the telecommunications industry when discussing the firm’s purchase.
“WhatsApp is trying to siphon the billions that the telecom industry would make from [traditional SMS text messaging]” she said.
We’ll see what Facebook does with this. I’m thinking that this won’t be the last purchase of this type that you’ll see from the company.
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This entry was posted on February 19, 2014 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Facebook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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WhatsApp Bought By Facebook
The BBC among others are reporting that popular messaging app WhatsApp has been bought by Facebook for an absolutely stunning $19 billion:
In a statement announcing the deal, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg described WhatsApp’s services as “incredibly valuable”.
It better be incredibly valuable for $19 billion. Here’s why Facebook was interested:
Cathy Boyle, a senior analyst at research firm eMarketer, said WhatsApp was valuable to Facebook for several reasons beyond advertising, including its younger user base and its popularity overseas.
“WhatsApp actually has greater penetration in a lot of international markets than Facebook,” Ms Boyle told the BBC.
She added that it was notable that Facebook’s chief financial officer David Ebersman referred to the telecommunications industry when discussing the firm’s purchase.
“WhatsApp is trying to siphon the billions that the telecom industry would make from [traditional SMS text messaging]” she said.
We’ll see what Facebook does with this. I’m thinking that this won’t be the last purchase of this type that you’ll see from the company.
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This entry was posted on February 19, 2014 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Facebook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.