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A comment on Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs. Parent comment

Re:Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus ... by sentenza on Wednesday February 19, 2014 @07:48PM (#7267935)
I'm sure not management material for an internet juggernaut, but couldn't Facebook have taken something like $1bn to have ten potential What's App killers with full facebook integration written and then used the other $18bn to really diversify by buying something out-of band?

Like, I don't know, maybe a steel mill or copper mine or something.

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Re:Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus ... by mendicantB on Wednesday February 19, 2014 @08:03PM (#7268016)
It's not about developing an alternative, which will likely flounder anyways, considering that WhatsApp has the momentum and critical mass on users already. It's completely a defensive mechanism. WhatsApp dominates and will continue to dominate markets FB chat could never touch, and may invade current FB chat territory.
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