Facebook's Acquisition of WhatsApp From a 2014 Perspective

Facebook's Acquisition of WhatsApp Was a Smart Acquisition from a 2014 Perspective
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Facebook's Acquisition of WhatsApp Was a Smart Acquisition from a 2014 Perspective
In February 2014, Facebook announced its biggest acquisition ever. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, had agreed to buy WhatsApp from Jan Koum and Brian Acton for a total of $22 billion (Collis et al. 2018). While this acquisition seemed outrageous since WhatsApp was still trying to establish its revenue sources by then, Zuckerberg saw it as a futuristic opportunity as he could independently advance some of his initial aims for establishing Facebook on WhatsApp. In addition, the acquisition enabled Facebook to diversify, move into a popular new network-marketing segment, and focus on development and user growth.
Purchasing WhatsApp placed Facebook in a better position to control the messaging network. When its acquisition in 2014, WhatsApp had already proven that it would handle the messaging network. Four hundred fifty million people use WhatsApp monthly (Collis et al., 2018). The merger would imply that Zuckerberg had the opportunity to command a considerable portion of the world's photos and messages sent each day. For Facebook, WhatsApp was an excellent opportunity, and the company jumped in at the right time to acquire it before its values soared to unprecedented levels.
The acquisition of WhatsApp is also a defensive measure from a 2014 standpoint. The messaging area had by then become the newest battleground for digital titans like Blackberry's BBM and Apple's iMessage. Facebook would be threatened by competitors’ entry into this fast-expanding sector. Moreover, WhatsApp and Facebook aspired to enhance communication and connect the world, making WhatsApp an even more significant threat to Facebook. With Google also vying for the o...