Facebook buys WhatsApp for $19 billion

Facebook has bought messaging app WhatsApp in a deal worth a total of $19bn (£11.4bn) in cash and shares.



WhatsApp is a messaging service that works on all major phone operating systems, and it transmits users' text and video messages via their Internet data plan -- it doesn't "charge" the messages to users' texting plans, even if the text is being sent internationally.


The app is free to download, and its service is also free for the first 12 months. It costs 99 cents annually after that first year.

WhatsApp has been able to hold its weight against messaging heavyweights like Twitter, Google and Microsoft's Skype. WhatsApp has upwards of 450 million users, and it is adding an additional million users every day.

Facebook acquire WhatsApp for $12 billion in stock and $4 billion in cash. The deal worth up to $19 billion, as Facebook paid out an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units to WhatsApp employees to remain employed at Facebook for four years.

WhatsApp acquisition represents a way for Facebook to buy its way into mobile messaging, a hot market in which Facebook has struggled. Facebook has released a few messaging products, including a standalone mobile app, but they haven't reached mass adoption. The company also reportedly tried and failed to buy photo-messaging app Snapchat for $3 billion.