The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20191002220233/https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-to-buy-whatsapp-for-16-billion-1392847766
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Facebook to Pay $19 Billion for WhatsApp

Messaging Startup to Operate Independently, Retain Brand

Facebook's $19 billion purchase of the WhatsApp mobile messaging service ranks as the largest-ever purchase of a company backed by venture capital. WSJ's Reed Albergotti reports. (Photo: AP)
By
Reed Albergotti,
Douglas MacMillan and
Evelyn M. Rusli

Facebook Inc. agreed to buy messaging company WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock, a blockbuster transaction that dwarfs the already sky-high prices that other startups have been able to recently command.

The 55-employee company, which acts as a kind of replacement for text messaging, has seen its use more than double in the past nine months to 450 million monthly users. That makes its service more popular than Twitter Inc., the widely used microblogging service which has about 240 million users and is currently valued...