![]() ![]() Koum went to Zuckerberg's house in Palo Alto for dinner on February 9, and the conversation became more serious. They have since met frequently, going to dinner and on hikes, said the source, who asked not to be named because the process isn't being discussed publicly. Zuckerberg first reached out to Koum in early 2012, when the two met for coffee at a German bakery in Los Altos, California, and ended up talking for more than two hours, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. 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. And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication. You can continue to use WhatsApp no matter where in the world you are, or what smartphone you're using. You can continue to enjoy the service for a nominal fee. "WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. ![]() "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."įacebook also confirmed in a blog post that WhatsApp will continue to operate independently and retain its own brand. "We're excited and honoured to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world. "WhatsApp's extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide," he said. Koum said in a statement on the company's website that WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. While Facebook has touted its progress adding more advertising revenue on mobile devices, Koum has been strict about keeping ads out of WhatsApp. Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital invested $US8 million in WhatsApp in 2011. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum co-founded the company with Brian Acton in 2009 after almost a decade as an engineer at Yahoo. "It was clearly the first mobile app other than Facebook that was going to get to 1 billion users." "They just took out their primary threat and they recognise that overnight it makes them the leader in the mobile messaging space," said Jim Patterson, CEO of Cotap, a messaging service for businesses. Facebook's Instagram also launched its own messaging feature – Instagram Direct – late last year. It also competes with China's WeChat, South Korea's KakaoTalk, and Japan's Line, as well as Facebook’s own app, Facebook Messenger. ![]() Unlike traditional text messages, which consumers pay for through their mobile plans, WhatsApp is free for the first year, and then costs 99 cents a year after that. "They are buying 450 million loyal users and an extraordinary growth story, but at a staggering cost."Ĭalifornia-based WhatsApp, which is popular in Europe and Australia, lets users send messages on mobile devices on different operating systems including Apple's iOS, Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Phone and BlackBerry. "Facebook is clearly taking out one of its main competitors," said Paul Sweeney, a Bloomberg Industries analyst. WhatsApp competes with Snapchat, which rebuffed a $3.2 billion offer from Facebook last year, as well as services from Twitter and Kik. "Facebook has come to the realisation that it needs a portfolio of apps to reach people with different use cases, different demographics, or different ways of communicating."įacebook, which acquired photo-sharing service Instagram for about $US700 million in 2012, is counting on applications beyond its main social network to reach more users on smartphones and tablets. "They seem to have made a pretty strong statement with this acquisition – that they are willing to broaden their portfolio of apps and not just put all of their eggs in one basket" said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at EMarketer. The purchase would be the biggest internet deal since Time Warner’s $US124 billion merger with AOL in 2001. "The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable." "WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people," Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said. ![]()
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