[sonick]

Wonder if they'll just shut down WhatsApp altogether and merge them to Messenger...

Edit: Luckily not;

WhatsApp's core messaging product and Facebook's existing Messenger app will continue to operate as standalone applications.

https://twitter.com/sarahfrier/status/436261082442006528

https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/436260374112112640

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-is-buying-whatsapp-2014-2

[subordinate]

.................................. holy shit.

Read this tidbit on their site....well, let's just say, "Money Talks"

http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2012/06/why-we-dont-sell-ads/

Smart guys, don't sell ads, build a larger base of clients/end users who love no ads. Amass #1 text app, sell to Facebook for 16 billion, so facebook can sell ads/collect more data. Genius.

[Jsunu]

Oh god facebook integration with whatsapp....

[shawnly1000]

Will be interesting to see what FB has planned/envisioned for Whatsapp and how they'll make money off of it/make a return on this huge investment.

[subordinate]

Will be interesting to see what FB has planned/envisioned for Whatsapp and how they'll make money off of it/make a return on this huge investment.

Facebook wanted to buy snapchat for 4 ish billion last year. Another top ranked mobile app.

It all comes down to "committed" end users who use/interact with these apps on a regular basis.

Last quarterly earnings for FB showed something like 55% of their revenue was from Mobile Ads. It's like all the other ads on various apps but you have a top ranked app, that users spend what? over 1-3 minutes on, texting back and fourth. Add in algos to connect with your facebook platform, searches, and info from Whatsapp, you have better targets and ad optimization, thereby, marketing companies & regular companies will pay a higher ad fee. That's my guess.

[shawnly1000]

They're planning to keep it as a stand alone app, like Instagram

Stats/facts

400 million active users

20 billion messages per day, double Facebook’s daily message traffic.

[zilley]

snapchat is sucha simple idea, (altho I dont know how to program it) IF only I hired someone to program it.

FUCK I WOULD BE ROLLING HARDER THAN MAINLAND KIDS.

[PeanutButter]

I really hope they don't mess around with Whatsapp...

and if they do, I hope BBM gets better so I can switch over. BBM imo was a terrible experience for me. I tried to hang onto BBM as long as I could because I used to be a berry user, but there were just too many bugs and dislikes with BBM deleted it and switched back to Whatsapp.

Do any of you prefer BBM over whatsapp?

My biggest dislikes with BBM were:
- Chat screen was too small when you were replying, you couldn't see as much text as you can with whatsapp
- sending picture/video messages were such low quality and there was no way to change this
- bug where I would pull down a notification for "Maggy" and BBM would open my convo with "David"
- BBM icon was on my notification permanently (though, I can't remember if this was removable or not)

[Tr1ll]

So how soon until FB puts ads in Whatsapp?
Posted via RS Mobile

[jaguar604]

That is a lot of money.

[m3thods]

I've moved as much to Hangouts as I can, except some friends still prefer to to use Whatsapp (as well as relatives from overseas). I'm sure for the die-hards, they won't care if ads suddenly show up at the bottom of the screen.

[multicartual]

16 billion... that is a lot of hookers and blow

[Mike Oxbig]

then they're gonna buy bbm too and wechat

[Vale46Rossi]

Now they have all our chat history.....

[Harvey Specter]

It's really unbelievable how much some of these tech companies are worth.

[PiuYi]

$19 billion seems overpriced for whatsapp....

450million active users, assume they all pay, thats only 450 mn a year...

no ad revenue
no corporate income
limited user info they can sell to third party (since they're not allowed to spy on users, as far as i know)
no patent value
no engineering talent (only ~50 employees at whatsapp)

not to mention wechat is the the leading messenger app, this one's a head-scratcher for me

[ShadowBun]

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/500x/46239869.jpg

[m3thods]

$19 billion seems overpriced for whatsapp....

450million active users, assume they all pay, thats only 450 mn a year...

no ad revenue
no corporate income
limited user info they can sell to third party (since they're not allowed to spy on users, as far as i know)
no patent value
no engineering talent (only ~50 employees at whatsapp)

not to mention wechat is the the leading messenger app, this one's a head-scratcher for me

Do you have a chart outlining WeChat being the top app? Is it just the fact that everyone in China uses it?

The valuation seems over-inflated, which is what I'm gathering from all the tech news sites that have written about it. But there is very little in terms of apps that have that many active users. That many users and their data is seemingly worth $16B to FB. I guess FB really wanted Whatsapp

[Harvey Specter]

$19 billion seems overpriced for whatsapp....

450million active users, assume they all pay, thats only 450 mn a year...

no ad revenue
no corporate income
limited user info they can sell to third party (since they're not allowed to spy on users, as far as i know)
no patent value
no engineering talent (only ~50 employees at whatsapp)

not to mention wechat is the the leading messenger app, this one's a head-scratcher for me

+1.

Ad revenue is the huge question mark for these companies and how or if they'll ever turn a profit. And it looks like instead of innovating from within, FB has decided to just buy up other companies. It's not a path you want to go down, Yahoo learned the hard way that overpaying for online properties over the years to hide your weak revenues doesn't work.

[PiuYi]

Do you have a chart outlining WeChat being the top app? Is it just the fact that everyone in China uses it?


whoops. you're right, whatsapp IS the leading messenger.... however, WeChat seems further down the path in terms of generating revenue (games, stickers tied to the messenger i believe)

WeChat now has 272M monthly active users around the world (http://www.techinasia.com/tencent-wechat-272-million-activer-users-q3-2013/)



+1.

Ad revenue is the huge question mark for these companies and how or if they'll ever turn a profit. And it looks like instead of innovating from within, FB has decided to just buy up other companies. It's not a path you want to go down, Yahoo learned the hard way that overpaying for online properties over the years to hide your weak revenues doesn't work.

google is doing it right, buying startups while they're young, devouring potential competition while diversifying its business
only $17bn spent on acquisitions the past 2 years and instead they have a basketful of tech companies from robotics to AI

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/why-google-is-buying-a-seemingly-crazy-collection-of-companies-1.2537110
(i think this article forgot about motorola though)

[duc_evo_sp]

Wow, that's absurb... on the highest level.

Just make your own app.

[jasonturbo]

I don't see how FB shareholders are ever going to get their money back on this acquisition.

[shawnly1000]

Entertaining to see all the commentary on the purchase, though I do agree that the amount paid is definitely surprising/nobody would've placed that price/valuation on WhatsApp, I'm sure Facebook had to do some serious calculations/DD for such a huge investment. Nevertheless, will be interesting to look back on this in a few years.

[StylinRed]

kind of like the .com days when companies paid ridiculous amounts of money for a web addy

[Mr.HappySilp]

kind of like the .com days when companies paid ridiculous amounts of money for a web addy

and watch it burst. I still don't get this whole ad thing. I have never ever click on an ad on fb........... Not really sure how it actually works.

[sonick]

I have never ever click on an ad on fb........... Not really sure how it actually works.

Companies have to pay just to have the ad come up on your feed, not if they actually click it.

[RevYouUp]

make another app similar to whatsapp with no ads
wait til everyone jumps over
sell to FB
profit $$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Mr.HappySilp]

Companies have to pay just to have the ad come up on your feed, not if they actually click it.

AWWW ok.

[rsx]

seems a bit much

[Harvey Specter]

If you're going to invest in tech right now are in companies getting into cloud and other business related services. The rest of these companies are floating on speculation and seriously good luck to investors when you paid billions of dollars for a company which has a potentially to make a few million dollars in profit if that.

[StutteR_]

You never know what life has planned for you. In Brian's case, it was 19 billion.

How Things Change | TechCrunch (http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/19/how-things-change/?utm_campaign=fb&ncid=fb)

[Verdasco]

make another app similar to whatsapp with no ads
wait til everyone jumps over
sell to FB
profit $$$$$$$$$$$$$

not as easy as you think bro... hahaha

amount of glitches a newbie programmer will have and how will they get the consumer *yes you!* to use their new chat app?!?!

[subordinate]

not as easy as you think bro... hahaha

amount of glitches a newbie programmer will have and how will they get the consumer *yes you!* to use their new chat app?!?!

Not to mention, Whatsapp was essentially the first mover in the market. There wasn't any app close to it when it first came out on iphone back in 2008?

[StylinRed]

whatsapp was even available on symbian so they get props from me :D

i've never used any of these apps though im fine with what comes on the phone however wechat looks nicer to me im surprised that didn't get picked up instead (basing it on screenshots)

[rsx]

Remember the Mike function back in the with the walkie talkie style, is there an app like that? That'd be pretty sweet.

[shawnly1000]

Remember the Mike function back in the with the walkie talkie style, is there an app like that? That'd be pretty sweet.

Think that was dependent on a network feature, Push to Talk IIRC

[Soundy]

http://easycaptures.com/fs/uploaded/651/6782343323.jpg (http://easycaptures.com/6782343323)
View Screen Capture (http://easycaptures.com/6782343323)

[Manic!]

CNN was saying Whatsapp gets 1 million new users a day.So it's still growing at a crazy rate.

[Gucci Mane]

man is that guy ever lucky. good for him.

[Jegz]

Wow. Fucking Wow.

[Harvey Specter]

Wonder who's going to buy up snapchat or will they get investors and try to grow the company themselves and become the next FB.

Breakdown of the #'s:

FORTUNE -- Like many of you, I'm still having a hard time processing Facebook's decision to pay around $19 billion for a four year-old messaging company. In the meantime, some numbers that weren't in the press release:

$19.5 billion.

That's the amount Facebook (FB) actually is paying for WhatsApp, based on today's closing stock price of $68.06 per share. In calculating the overall price, Facebook used the average of the six trading days preceding Feb. 18 -- which worked out to only around $65.27 per share. Facebook shares are off a bit in aftermarket trading, but still above the $65.27 mark.

35%

That's how much of Facebook's cash is being used for this deal. Pretty extraordinary, given that this is mostly a stock transaction.

1

That's how many venture capital firms currently own shares in WhatsApp. The lottery winner here is Sequoia Capital, which led the company's Series A round back in early 2011.

$60 million

That's how much we hear that Sequoia invested overall into WhatsApp, over three rounds of financing (only the first of which was ever publicly reported). The bulk of that was part of a $50 million Series C infusion that WhatsApp quietly closed in the middle of last year.

$3.4 billion

That's a ballpark figure for how much Sequoia will make on the deal. My understanding is that it holds a WhatsApp ownership percentage in the "high teens" -- placing it between $3.2 billion (17%) and $3.6 billion (19%).

Sign up for Dan's daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com

[shawnly1000]

Sequoia Capital's view, keep in mind these guys were also in Instagram before it got bought by FB

Sequoia Capital ? Four Numbers That Explain Why Facebook Acquired WhatsApp (http://sequoiacapital.tumblr.com/post/77211282835/four-numbers-that-explain-why-facebook-acquired)

[subordinate]

I wonder if Whatapp paid their cleaners with stock options, boy, multi-millionaires overnight. Like how Google/Facebook/Twitter made even their lowest employees multi-millionaires.

Facebook has assured Jan and Brian that WhatsApp will remain ad free and they will not have to compromise on their principles. We know that Jan, as a new member of Facebook’s board, will continue to champion the rights of WhatsApp users.

...... If no ads, I guess it'd be information/data being sold then.

[rsx]

is there an app that is like chat roulette but for mobile phone messaging?

i wonder if that'll take off.

[Manic!]

is there an app that is like chat roulette but for mobile phone messaging?

i wonder if that'll take off.

It needs to be a location based random chat app. So yo can connect with random people in your area or in a different location.

[shawnly1000]

.

[shawnly1000]

is there an app that is like chat roulette but for mobile phone messaging?

i wonder if that'll take off.

It needs to be a location based random chat app. So yo can connect with random people in your area or in a different location.

Tinder sounds like what you guys are describing

[rsx]

Tinder is based on likes and a 'screening' process. This has to be super random and not geographically based. Like you can talk to someone in Europe randomly.

EG: if you're taking a shit and you're bored, you just open the app and someone's there from god know's where in the world.

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

with the super computers these corporations can afford and with the upcoming quantum computers, the price they pay is little compared to the data they can mine and what patterns of data they can get these computers to crunch out.

they will have info that no one else in the world has access to. or can have access to... except maybe google and NSA a-alikes.

they'll see new patterns of information that no one else can even begin to start to put together. vital information... and in some aspect, live data.

it doesn't take much except to throw in a few creative minds and you'll have an endless list of stuff u can experiment with.

[Harvey Specter]

^
Read a great article on this topic a few weeks ago; Quantum Computing: A Primer | TIME.com (http://science.time.com/2014/02/07/quantum-computing-a-primer/)

It's downright scary what this computer will be able to do and with FB essentially having so much access to so much private data from almost a billion people you wonder if a tech company will one day rule the entire world.

[geeknerd]

Europe.

http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/messaging-international.jpg?w=738

[Manic!]

Tinder is based on likes and a 'screening' process. This has to be super random and not geographically based. Like you can talk to someone in Europe randomly.

EG: if you're taking a shit and you're bored, you just open the app and someone's there from god know's where in the world.

You coud call it sh|t shat/chat.

[rsx]

I was going to call it Super Chat =( Can't wait to sell it for billions.

[J____]

whatsapp is outdated. Their features aren't capable of keeping up with demand, wechat is where it's at, probably THE best msging/social media platform I've ever used.

[Hehe]

This is it. I'm going to quit my 9-5 job and start a start-up...

4 years from now, I'll be balling out of control... mark my word.







:ilied::ilied:

[FerrariEnzo]

This is it. I'm going to quit my 9-5 job and start a start-up...

4 years from now, I'll be balling out of control... mark my word.







:ilied::ilied:
Your too late, flappy bird was already :alone:created...

[skiiipi]

whatsapp is outdated. Their features aren't capable of keeping up with demand, wechat is where it's at, probably THE best msging/social media platform I've ever used.
I actually like LINE for messaging, but seems to be a battery drain on my phone.
Posted via RS Mobile

[shenmecar]

whatsapp is outdated. Their features aren't capable of keeping up with demand, wechat is where it's at, probably THE best msging/social media platform I've ever used.

This is China taking over the world, 1 step at a time.

[RRxtar]

The way this tech boom is going is like the dotcom boom all over again but way fucking bigger.

You don't even need to re-create and out-do something like Facebook did to Myspace. You just need to make something super fucking trendy that will explode with popularity and sell it as its peaking within 2 years. Even if that trendy thing is a direct copy of something existing (flappy bird has been done 1000x etc). They key is to make it trendy so every 12-16 year old kid wants it. I swear you could make an app with jingling shiney keys and somehow get 100 million downloads.

Tinder is absolutely genius and such a ridiculously simple concept. It just plays on teenagers social awkwardness and sex drive in the simplest way. Their slogan could be "With this app, you can get laid without ever having to actually talk to someone, and worst case, you can look at pics of hotties in your area."

Snapchat. Instead of sending a text message, you can send a one time short video that (is supposed to) can't be saved. "Chicks will sext you"

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

^
Read a great article on this topic a few weeks ago; Quantum Computing: A Primer | TIME.com (http://science.time.com/2014/02/07/quantum-computing-a-primer/)

It's downright scary what this computer will be able to do and with FB essentially having so much access to so much private data from almost a billion people you wonder if a tech company will one day rule the entire world.

yep that was the computer i was talking about.

located in burnaby too lol.