In a not so surprising move, Facebook has agreed to purchase WhatsApp for a rather incredible US $19 billion. Whatsapp will continue to operate independently and Facebook will be getting 450 million users coming from WhatsApp to give its own messaging services a neat boost.

The deal of US $19 billion includes US $4 billion in case, US $12 billion in stock and additional US $3 billion in restricted stock which will vest for next four years after the deal is closed.

WhatsApp will continue to operate independently, at least for the time being, and, according to WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum, nothing will change for end users. "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", he added.

Mark Zuckenberg noted that "WhatsAppwill complement our existing chat and messaging services to provide new tools for our community. Facebook Messenger is widely used for chatting with your Facebook friends, and WhatsApp for communicating with all of your contacts and small groups of people." According to Zuckenberg, WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people and this is Facebook's move to make the world more open and connected.

The US $19 billion deal makes the Microsoft-Skype US $8.5 billion deal as well as Rakuten-Viber deal of US $900 million, look like a bargain.

Hopefully, Facebook will stay true to its comments today and will leave WhatsApp to do its job, just as it did with Instagram.



Source: Facebook.com, WhatsApp Blog.