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| Whatsapp in New Avtar |
Mobile messaging consolidation is coming fast and heavy recently, with the Viber/Rakuten deal and today’s WhatsApp acquisition by Facebook.There is a lot of buzz going around about this takeover. The funny thing about this takeover is that the founder of Whatsapp tried to get a job at Facebook before founding whatsapp and was turned down, four years later with the 419 millions user on his platform, #Jan Koum have somersaulted directly in the facebook managerial board after this acquisition as a press release from Faceook states "WhatsApp will continue to operate independently and retain its brand. In addition, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum will join Facebook’s board." This is how this have changed.
But the bigger question is, How things will Change ?
How Things Have Changed
The Past
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| Whatsapp Ethics |
The Present
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| 4 Years Of Whatsapp |
$19 billion is…
- 4x the market cap of BlackBerry
- Approximately one-third the market cap of Ford
- 2.8x the market cap of GroupOn
- Effectively equal to the market cap of The Gap
- Slightly more than Sony’s market cap (around 10 percent)
- Around three-fourths the market cap of Delta
- 7.5 Mark Cubans
- Almost precisely one-third of HP’s market cap
- 2 nuclear submarines
- 62 percent of Twitter’s market cap
- 76,000 trips to space on Virgin Galactic
- Almost 60 percent of Sprint’s market cap
- 25 Instagram acquisitions
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| Whatsapp At a Glance |
The future:
This is Facebooks take on this deal:Facebook fosters an environment where independent-minded entrepreneurs can build companies, set their own direction and focus on growth while also benefiting from Facebook’s expertise, resources and scale. This approach is working well with Instagram, and WhatsApp will operate in this manner. WhatsApp’s brand will be maintained; its headquarters will remain in Mountain View, CA; Jan Koum will join Facebook’s Board of Directors; and WhatsApp’s core messaging product and Facebook’s existing Messenger app will continue to operate as standalone applications.
“Our explicit strategy for the next several years is to focus on growing and connecting everyone in the world,I don’t personally think ads are the right way to monetize messaging.” Zuckerberg said.
And this is how Whatsapp CEO Koum takes the matter:
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.
Koum also made a similar statement today in his post about the acquisition, saying, “You can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication.”
What You Can Expect
Right now, the two companies are willing to delay making money off WhatsApp to ensure it becomes the dominant mobile messenger around the world. Putting a dollar price tag on it could drive users to competitors that are free to download, like WeChat, Kik, KakaoTalk, and Line.And therein lies perhaps the biggest advantage to being acquired for WhatsApp. Facebook makes plenty of money from advertising in its main app and website. That money unshackles WhatsApp from polluting its product with ads or slowing down growth with a subscription fee. Instead, it can drive full-speed towards getting to 1 billion users.
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