Facebook formally closes WhatsApp acquisition

6 Oct 2014

After receiving EU approval on Friday, social networking giant Facebook has in a regulatory filing formally concluded its acquisition of WhatsApp for US$19bn.

In a regulatory filing to the the SEC (the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), Facebook said that WhatsApp’s CEO Jan Koum will be appointed to Facebook’s board.

An offer letter from Facebook matches Koum’s salary at Facebook with that of Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the princely sum of US$1.

But don’t worry for Koum, the deal has grown to more than US$21bn since it was announced six months ago.

Exiting WhatsApp shareholders have been given US$4.5bn while WhatAapp employs have been given 45m units of restricted Facebook stock.

On Friday, the EU gave Facebook the green light to proceed with its acquisition of the social messaging platform.

The US authority the Federal Trade Commission gave its blessing to the acquisition in April.

Social messaging image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com