facebook
 
      The social networking site that took the world by storm in 2004 recently announced its purchasing of WhatsApp – a real-time mobile messaging service – in a massive $19 billion contract. On February 19th the partners filed an SEC claim and entered into a Merger Agreement stating that WhatsApp will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the acquirer and that all outstanding shares of WhatsApp capital stock will be cancelled in exchange for 183,865,778 shares of Facebook’s common stock – valued at $12 billion. The arrangement is valued for an upfront total of $16 billion, including $4 billion in cash, and about $12 billion in Facebook shares.
 
    Zuckerberg and his team are going to great lengths to preserve Facebook’s market share as the platform for the social web, also buying the rights to Instagram – the hugely popular photo sharing app – last year. Much like that deal, CEO and Co-founder of WhatsApp will join Facebook’s Board of Directors, but the site will operate independently within Facebook. After a decade in the spotlight, the social networking world awaits Facebook’s next big move — perhaps a certain omnipresent search engine will be next on its ‘conquered’ list.