WhatsApp Reportedly Snubbed $10B Offer from Google Before $19B Facebook Buyout

You may have been shocked to hear that Facebook payed a whopping $19 billion to acquire mobile messaging service WhatsApp. But did you know that WhatsApp previously spurred a $10 billion offer from Google? Beyond the additional cash and stock options provided by Facebook, WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum was also given a seat on the Facebook board (along with a large portion of of Facebook’s cash reserves), a feature that reportedly wasn’t part of Google’s offer.

The flurry of news has taken application developers and entrepreneurs by surprise – everyone is still trying to wrap their heads around how Instagram was purchased for nearly 1 billion dollars, let alone understand how WhatsApp could be purchased for $19 billion! Apparently things move fast from year to year, and a billion dollars isn’t as cool as it used to be. Just ask Snapchat, which laughed off Facebook’s previous $3 billion offer.

Do you think Facebook paid too much for WhatsApp or was the price just right?

Comic by CommitStrip
via CNN