Posted by tranced
On February 19, 2014, Facebook, Inc. (“Parent”) entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization (the “Merger Agreement”) with Rhodium Acquisition Sub II, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned (in part directly and in part indirectly) subsidiary of Parent (“Acquirer”), Rhodium Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation, a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Acquirer (“Merger Sub”), WhatsApp Inc., a Delaware corporation (“WhatsApp”), and Fortis Advisors LLC, as the stockholders’ agent.
As you heard it! The F is buying the messaging app WhatsApp. The buyout will be divided in cash(4bn) and stocks(12bn). If you want to read more about this deal, make sure you head to the document.
[ This Message was edited by: tranced on 2014-02-19 22:24 ]
Posted by hihihans
I wonder what they'll do with it. Implant it in FB to replace messenger?
Posted by Away
Sad, sad news... 16bn? And I thought Microsoft was too desperate in buying Skype... But you know you're desperate when you offer snapchat 3bn
[ This Message was edited by: Away on 2014-02-19 22:41 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Facebook is useless at making apps work properly they'll mess this one up now
Posted by goldenface
Now Facebook will have all our phone numbers too.
We need a new 'Whatsapp' now
Posted by tranced
Have you heard of telegram? Almost WhatsApp plus a lot of goodies.
Posted by hihihans
I know telegram stop it is an old communication system stop
I'll give it a try.
Posted by Bonovox
Telegram haha that'll have to be posted
Posted by Tsepz_GP
The juggernaut is growing, and where is Twitter in all of this??? They need to start making major acquisitions to, Vine and Ads can only take them so far.
Posted by goldenface
It seem's the popularity of Whatsapp is a danger to the networks, who have traditionally made money from sms / mms. If this is so then it might drive the price of data plans up in order to compensate.
The good thing about Whatsapp though is being able to send videos free to any phone number, something the networks have never allowed us to do properly.
Posted by Tsepz_GP
...and then there's also BBM for Android, which recently got a major update to be more competitive with WhatsApp.
Posted by goldenface
I have BBM for Andrd but rarely use it. For some reason Whatsapp is just so much simpler, for me anyway. I hope they don't change it but knowing Facebook, somewhere down the line they're going to make it pay.
Posted by Tsepz_GP
I use both BBM for Android and WhatsApp daily as I have friends and family who like to use one or the other and I have to agree, WhatsApp is much simpler/cleaner interface and it's also far less resource heavy.
FB have done a great job at keeping Instagram original, remember they bought them for $1billion last year? FB did a great job at fending off competition from Vine, they added Instagram Video and Instagram Direct Message yet kept the experience as smooth, fluid and simple as before. I don't expect them to ruin WhatsApp, rather I expect them to kill off the WhatsApp Trial period and make it completely free and maybe do a sort of tie-in with Instagram and FB, good times ahead, IMO.
Posted by alenn
I don't use any of the aforementioned, I just use the FB app occasionaly when I'm on my Huawei. But most of the time I'm on my N900 anyways.
Posted by Bonovox
Facebook shares dropped today
Posted by Away
On 2014-02-20 00:28:09, goldenface wrote:
Now Facebook will have all our phone numbers too.
We need a new 'Whatsapp' now
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
I think Viber is the front-runner for an alternative.
Posted by Bonovox
For about half an hour last night What's App store working. Someone else I was messaging said her side stopped working too and she's in Canada. Not a good start
Posted by Tsepz_GP
I doubt the deal has even gone through yet, it's going to be a couple weeks if not months before WhatsApp is truly a FB product. You must've experienced a minor server mulfunction.
Posted by Supa_Fly
On 2014-02-20 00:02:00, Bonovox wrote:
Facebook is useless at making apps work properly they'll mess this one up now
REALLY?! Then you haven't seen their new FB app - currently only on iOS/iPhone ... the way it flows is like BB10 & Flipboard on steriods ... it's REALLY good! Well designed and thought out.
But this? oh man.
SO ... a silly question who here would consider using BBM?
- Free for Chat, Group Chat, Calendar Sharing (separate from your others), VOIP, Video Calls (3G/4G/LTE), Channels, and soon Video Screen Sharing (for iOS/Android). ??
^ shameless plug I know but it's a very robust system that is internationally available on 3 major platforms (2 in the eyes of most), and it's FREE; not owned by some company that doesn't respect personal information.
Posted by skblakee
Unless people start leaving Whatsapp in droves most of the other messengers will continue on whatever path they were on. Privacy concerns can push people away from whatsapp if facebook messes with it.
One good thing though, the latest whatsapp for Android comes with the ability to disable the timestamp so that others cant see when last you were online. A very good update.
Posted by Bonovox
What's App not working again as my girlfriend she's over in Canada right now & she can't text me on it either
http://downdetector.co.uk/problems/whatsapp
[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2014-02-22 20:27 ]
Posted by Bonovox
Posted by Tsepz_GP
For those who think its due to Facebook:
WhatsApp Is Down, Facebook’s New Acquisition Confirms Server Issues
In reality, it’s more likely that its $19 billion acquisition by Facebook announced Wednesday led to a surge of signups and usage that has overloaded its servers. We’ve contacted Facebook and are awaiting a response.
When users (including me) try to send messages or check their existing chat conversations, WhatsApp gets stuck, showing an endless loading asterisk and the alert “Connecting…”
The “WhatsDown” reports started flooding in around 11am PST, but there were some troubles last night as well. We’ve received tips from frustrated users in the US, India, Israel, and many places around the world. The outage could stoke fears that Facebook will screw up WhatsApp if the acquisition gets regulatory approval.
When users (including me) try to send messages or check their existing chat conversations, WhatsApp gets stuck, showing an endless loading asterisk and the alert “Connecting…”
The “WhatsDown” reports started flooding in around 11am PST, but there were some troubles last night as well. We’ve received tips from frustrated users in the US, India, Israel, and many places around the world. The outage could stoke fears that Facebook will screw up WhatsApp if the acquisition gets regulatory approval.
TechCrunch
Facebook doesn't own them yet, so this whole outage is due to technical issues with WhatsApp servers and a possible surge in use, I'm sure when Facebook do own them we won't have this as they will move them to their more robust servers.
[ This Message was edited by: Tsepz_GP on 2014-02-22 22:36 ]
Posted by skblakee
They are back up.
Posted by hihihans
As expected. Lot's of people join telegram but it has to be seen how many will actual use it.
Posted by Bonovox
LG G2 White
[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2014-02-24 12:49 ]
Posted by Supa_Fly
On 2014-02-23 16:20:00, Bonovox wrote:
News here
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26273051
LMAO, dude that link was for an electric chair haunting some official LMAO!!!
On a serious note I did expect an outage due to ownership of moving servers over.
Posted by Bonovox
Whoops my copy and paste I must've chosen the wrong link
Posted by Lightspeed_x
@skblakee: Which version do you have?... I cant see that option anywhere.