Facebook Acquires Whatsapp for $16 Billion

Yesterday, another popular mobile chat service "Whatsapp" have been acquired by world biggest social network Facebook. The announcement was made on the blog post of Facebook, and deals of acquisition was worth of $16 billion. The deals includes $4 billion in cash and $12 Billion in Facebook shares.

At the time of Acquisition Whatsapp have recorded up an impressive 450 million of active monthly users and which is rapidly growing by 1 Million of new registered account on daily basis. Last year Whatsapp reported, 400 Million of monthly users of its service.

Whatsapp will keeps retains its brand name and will work as independent team. This is awkward situation of being both competitors and siblings in the marketplace. This may be not good for the users who have opt Whatsapp for Facebook messenger.

In the Blog post, CEO of Whatsapp, Jan Koum, says that,

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.

 Earlier also in 2011, Facebook have acquired another mobile messaging service Beluga.

So what you thinks on this step by Facebook, Is Facebook opting a business strategy by acquiring its competitors.