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The Facebook-WhatsApp Affair

Published: Mar 7, 2014 06:43:39 AM IST
Updated: Apr 3, 2014 04:44:24 PM IST
The Facebook-WhatsApp Affair
Image: Getty Images
Facebook’s 29-year-old billionaire CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives on the opening day of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on February 24, 2014. Fresh from a $19-billion stock-and-cash purchase of mobile messaging service WhatsApp, Facebook said it will launch free voice calls by mid-year

450,000,000 is the number of monthly active users WhatsApp has worldwide, which means Facebook paid $42 per user to acquire the tech startup. According to The Guardian, when the deal closes, Facebook will own four of the world’s most popular smartphone apps: Facebook itself, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

(This story appears in the 21 March, 2014 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)

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