We guess everyone has heard by now that Facebook will be acquiring WhatsApp, the popular instant messaging app, for a cool $19 billion. However it seems that Facebook was not alone in their bid for WhatsApp as our previous report had also suggested that Google expressed their interest as well. However it seems that Google’s offer of $10 billion without a seat on the board was not enough for WhatsApp to sell themselves to the company, which led to them selling to Facebook instead. However according to a report from The Information, it seems that Google had made a last-ditch attempt to acquire WhatsApp and was even willing to pay more than $19 billion.
The report goes on to state that Google’s Larry Page was also willing to allow WhatsApp to remain as an independent company, while at the same time providing them access to Google’s resources. This would mean that WhatsApp would not only have the money, but would also be able to compete with Facebook with regards to photo and video sharing, as well as instant messaging. Unfortunately despite the tempting offer, it seems that WhatsApp executives felt that Facebook’s vision was more aligned with theirs compared to Google. In fact it seems that it was also rumored that Google offered WhatsApp millions just to be notified if the company were to enter acquisition talks with another company, possibly so that Google could outbid them instead. Of course none of this can be confirmed, but what do you guys think?
Filed in . Read more about Apps, Facebook, Google, Social Hit and Whatsapp.