Facebook screwed up big time by paying $19 billion for WhatsApp. I'm sure than jkb76 (Jan) is laughing all the way to the bank!
Viber is a similar messaging VOIP application for smartphones. In addition to text messaging, users can exchange images, video and audio media messages. Viber works on both 3G/4G and Wi-Fi networks. Viber is a free app and is reported to have 280 million users (100 million of which are active monthly users). On February 14, 2014, the startup was acquired by Rakuten for $900 million.
Hmm....$900 million for 100 million active users vs. $19 billion for 450 million active users? Which is the better buy? You decide. Google passed on WhatsApp at $1 billion less than a year ago. But the smartest person in the room is jkb76, the creator of the app, who is now a multibillionaire.
Rakuten gets credit for buying a similar, if not better, app for 5% of the price Facebook paid. Had Facebook purchased Viber for $900 million, it could have easily quadrupled the number of active users and put an end to the dominance of WhatsApp. But they chose to go with the easier choice and shower the owners with billions in exchange for the continuing expertise.
My own preference is to use Viber. I use Viber everyday when I am overseas. I stopped using WhatsApp a week after downloading it. It's no Viber. And yet I own FB stock (in addition to GOOG). It's been a great investment, but any more reckless decisions and I'm going to sell FB and reinvest the proceeds in GOOG.
Last edited by DCBob; Feb 24, 2014 at 10:21 pm