Facebook has announced that it was closing its $19 billion deal to buy WhatsApp on Monday.
“We are looking forward to connecting even more people around the world, and continuing to create value for the people who use WhatsApp”, said Facebook official..
Moreover, as part of the deal, WhatsApp co-founder – Jan Koum – will join Facebook’s board of directors.
The announcement rolled out three days after the deal cleared its last hurdle and received approval from the European Commission, which guaranteed that the purchase wouldn’t hurt global competition. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission gave the deal its regulatory blessing back in April, while the social media magnate announced its intention to buy WhatsApp in February.
Facebook has stated to run the chatting app as an independent service, while WhatsApp’s founders are not planning to bring any advertising to the platform. WhatsApp currently claims more than 600 million users, as the company announced in August.
Because of the run-up in Facebook stock since the deal was announced, the estimated deal is now worth $21.8 billion.