FX.co ★ Strategic purchase for $19bn

Nowadays successful and promising companies rarely reach the “legal age” and survive without external help. It is one more feature of globalization. It had been long time since the world’s largest corporations stopped inventing something and creating unique offers, it is much easier for them to buy a promising start-up firm or ready-made and popular project. With this aim, analysts of big companies monitor the new or young firms to buy them in the future.
So the latest expensive purchase of Facebook is one of the most popular message exchange service WhatsApp. This is the largest deal of Facebook and the largest deal on Internet company. The record amount of $19bn, which the social network is going to spend on this purchase, is one third of Facebook’s total capital. At the beginning of negotiations the amount of the deal was $16bn but later increased by $3bn. However, it didn’t stop Zuckerberg and his company from buying gaining popularity application. According to the agreement, Facebook will pay $4bn from its “savings”, $12bn by its shares and $3bn by the option. The company’s management said that change of the owner will not affect the application and its users. The team and the application will work in the independent mode. To recall, Instagram, which has been also bought by Facebook for $1bn in 2012, works in the same mode. “And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication,” Jan Koum, the CEO of WhatsApp, said. According to analysts, with this purchase Facebook keeps on its strategy of forming its portfolio of mobile applications to help the company stay the course and control the mobile adaptation of users. In other words, Facebook buys its potential rivals until they develop to the level to be able to buy it.