What the heck is this What’s app? And what is wrong with Facebook. 19 billion dollars? For what? Destroying shareholder value. Odds are in a year FB shares are down 20% from here.
Word to the wise : observe from a distance. Enter this thread at your own peril.
That was one heck of a stupid price for a phone app. I agree.
Re: Facebook pays an arm, a leg and $19b for Whats’up?
An easy way for facebook to track peoples’ location, cellphone usage activities patterns and to know what they talk about when not updating status on facebook. Brace for ‘relevant’ ads on whatsapp.
Facebook Rises as Revenue Tops Estimates on Mobile Push - Bloomberg
…“Mobile is so key for them,” said Laurence Balter, an analyst at Oracle Investment Research who has a hold rating on the stock. “It’s going to be a big battle between Facebook and Twitter, and it’s Facebook’s game to lose.”…
…Facebook has said that younger teens aren’t using its website as much as they used to. The company last year offered $3 billion to acquire Snapchat Inc., an application popular with teens for sending annotated photos that disappear, which the startup turned down, a person familiar with the matter has said.
“If Facebook isn’t a teen product, then the teens are using Instagram, which is also owned by Facebook, so I think the fear is a little exaggerated,” said Eric Steiman, who owns Facebook in a portfolio of $5.5 million at Covestor Ltd. “The number of people on the platform is truly remarkable.”…
Re: Facebook pays an arm, a leg and $19b for Whats'up?
^Yeah, I agree. It was a smart buy. Did they overpay? Probably, but if things work out it won't like they did in the future. Everyone is using mobile these days and gravitating towards things like whatsapp.
19b is the price to stay relevant for FB, I guess.
Re: Facebook pays an arm, a leg and $19b for Whats'up?
Most tech acquisition use their overpriced stocks as currency. This stock deal is a quiet admission by FB that its stock is overvalued. Not good for current shareholders of FB. With or withiut acquisition. But good tactic BYFB to use its stock as currency. At least preferable to the other favored way of returning "value" to shareholders. Via buybacks.
Re: Facebook pays an arm, a leg and $19b for Whats'up?
or you know, they have accesss to 500 million active users.