WhatsApp is a cross-platform instant messaging service launched in 2009, founded by former Yahoo! employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum. It gained popularity due to its ease of use, affordability, and cross-platform compatibility, amassing 450 million monthly users within a short period. Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, marking one of the largest acquisitions in tech history, surpassing deals made by major companies like Google and Microsoft.

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2. HISTORY:
WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform
instant messaging Subscription service for
smartphones and selected feature phones that uses
the internet for communication.
WhatsApp Inc. was founded in 2009 by US citizens
Brian Acton and Jan Koum (also the CEO), both
former employees of Yahoo!.
the application eventually launched in November 2009
exclusively on the App Store for the iPhone.
Unofficial WhatsApp applications have been made for
unsupported platforms such as webOS
(MojoWhatsup), MeeGo (Wazzup) and Firefox OS
(ConnectA2).
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3. HOW IT BECAME SO POPULAR ::
All you need to sign up is your phone number.
WhatsApp tapped into your contact list to display friends already using
the app.
2G & 3G data plans paved the way for affordable messaging across
borders (all you need for WhatsApp is an internet connection).
Free for a year and $0.99 a year for unlimited messages.
MMS was rarely used due to its cost, WhatsApp made it affordable with
its photo sharing feature.
Cross platform compatibility (still includes Symbian!!) saw users in
emerging marketing jump on the bandwagon.
Here’s a short list that contributed to its increasing usage since 2009 :
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4. FACEBOOK-WHATSAPP
DEAL:
1.Facebook's largest acquisition ever ::
WhatsApp is Facebook's largest-ever
acquisition. The social networking giant will
pay $4 billion in cash and $12 billion worth
of shares for WhatsApp. But the ultimate
cost of the deal is $19 billion, with
WhatsApp employees and founders
receiving an additional $3 billion in
restricted stock units of Facebook.
The acquisition dwarfs the $1 billion that
Facebook paid for photo-sharing service
Instagram. Several analysts had termed
Instagram acquisition expensive. But now,
Facebook is paying $42 per user with the
deal.
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5. 2. Deal bigger than any Microsoft,
Google, Apple deal ever ::
The WhatsApp acquisition is one of the IT
industry's biggest deals. It is larger than any
that Google, Microsoft or Apple have ever
done. Google's biggest deal was its $12.5
billion purchase of Motorola Mobility, while
Microsoft's biggest acquisition deal was of
Skype at $8.5 billion. Apple, on the other
hand, has never cut a deal above $1 billion.
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6. 3. Informal talks went for over two years ::
Surprisingly, informal discussions between
the two companies had been going for two
years. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
first reached out to WhatsApp co-founder Jan
Koum in 2012. The two reportedly met at a
coffee shop in California. However, the deal
started shaping up earlier this month when
Koum went to Zuckerberg’s house in Palo
Alto for dinner.
According to reports, this is when the
conversation about a possible deal became
serious. Zuckerberg is said to have proposed
that the two companies join together and
Koum join Facebook's board.
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7. 4. Biggest-ever internet deal ::
According to Bloomberg data, the
WhatsApp acquisition is one of the
biggest internet deals since Time
Warner's $124 billion merger with
AOL in 2001.
Also, as per Dow Jones
VentureSource, the deal is the
largest acquisition ever of a venture
capital-backed startup.
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8. 5. Google’s unusual offer to WhatsApp
::
WhatsApp also reportedly received an
unusual offer from Google that it is said to
have turned down. Google reportedly
offered to pay WhatsApp in exchange for
the right to be notified if the messaging
app ever entered into acquisition talks with
another company.
A report in Fortune claims that Google
even offered to outrightly purchase
WhatsApp for $10 billion. The offer is said
to be sans the promise of a seat on
Google's board for Koum, unlike the
Facebook agreement.
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9. 6. Facebook denied WhatsApp
co-founder job in 2009 ::
In his pre-WhatsApp days, the
company's co-founder Brian Acton
applied for a job at Facebook.
However, he failed to make the cut at
the social networking giant.
In a tweet on August 4, 2009, he
wrote, "Facebook turned me down. It
was a great opportunity to connect
with some fantastic people. Looking
forward to life's next adventure."
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10. 7. WhatsApp in numbers ::
WhatsApp boasts of 450 million monthly
users, 72% of whom use it every day. There
are 19 billion messages sent and 34 billion
received via WhatsApp each day, in addition
to 600 million photos and 100 million video
messages.
WhatsApp has reached its 450 million active
users base faster than any other company in
history. Whatsapp's monthly user base tops
even that of Facebook (145 million), Gmail
(123 million), Twitter (54 million) and Skype
(52 million). In fact, its messaging volume is
approaching the entire global telecom SMS
volume.
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11. 8. WhatsApp founder has Ukrainian roots
::
WhatsApp's co-founder and CEO Jan Koum
is a Ukrainian immigrant, who grew up
mostly in the Ukraine, before moving to the
US as a teenager. The family is said to have
lived on food stamps given out to the needy
in the US.
In fact, according to a report in Forbes,
Koum, the other co-founder Brian Acton,
and venture capitalist Jim Goetz of Sequoia,
drove a few blocks from WhatsApp's
headquarters in Mountain View to a disused
white building across the railroad tracks, the
former North County Social Services office
where Koum, once stood in line to collect
food stamps. This is where they sealed the
Facebook deal.
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12. 9. Breakup fee ::
Facebook will have to pay $2 billion
if its acquisition of WhatsApp fails to
get necessary approvals.
"In the event of termination of the
merger agreement under certain
circumstances principally related to
a failure to obtain required
regulatory approvals, the merger
agreement provides for Facebook to
pay WhatsApp a fee of $1 billion in
cash," Facebook said in a
statement.
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13. FACTS ABOUT WHATSAPP ::
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14. Sequoia capital invested $8 million in 2011.
70% of the users are active on a daily basis.
They currently employ 50 people.
32 engineers working on whatsapp.
The app is the 5th most download app on Andriod.
Whatsapp spent ZERO cash on marketing, PR and user
acquisition .
Whatsapp’s messaging volume is approaching the entire
global telecom SMS volume.
On december 31st 2013 users sent a total 54 billion
messages during the day (3X increase from 2012).
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