When Did Mark Zuckerberg Buy WhatsApp?

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, purchased WhatsApp in 2014 for a total of $19 billion. Facebook had made multiple attempts to buy the popular messaging app, but the deal wasn’t finalized until October of 2014.

WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, two former Yahoo employees. After its launch, WhatsApp quickly rose to become one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. It had over 450 million active users as of February 2014 and was growing rapidly at the time of its acquisition.

Facebook’s acquisition marked one of the biggest technology deals ever seen at that time. The company paid a hefty sum for WhatsApp – $4 billion in cash and $12 billion worth of Facebook stock – but it was a price Zuckerberg was willing to pay for the app’s user base and reputation. The social media giant also agreed to pay an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units (RSUs) to WhatsApp’s founders and employees if they stayed with Facebook for four years after the deal closed.

The acquisition wasn’t without controversy though, as some people felt that Facebook had overpaid for WhatsApp. Nonetheless, it has proved to be a wise investment as WhatsApp has continued to grow since then. As of April 2021, it had over 2 billion active users worldwide.

Conclusion:

Mark Zuckerberg bought WhatsApp in 2014 for a total of $19 billion. It was one of the biggest technology deals ever seen at that time and proved to be a wise investment as WhatsApp has continued to grow since then, with over 2 billion active users worldwide today.