Advantages & disadvantages of facebook's whatsapp takeover

1. FACEBOOK’S WHATSAPP TAKEOVER

2. Facebook's recent deal to buy mobile messaging company WhatsApp Inc shocked many
people, mainly due to the huge price tag, which the social networking giant agreed to pay.
The $19 billion deal, which includes $3 billion in restricted stock, is in line with
Facebook's plan to become a mobile company, leading news agencies commented.
What does the acquisition mean to WhatsApp?
(Advantages of the deal)
In a blog post, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum stressed that the deal would
lead to no changes at all for his company's users. Moreover, the transaction will enable
the company to continue its mission of "building a cool product used globally by
everybody," while also growing and expanding, he said. WhatsApp will operate
independently and will preserve its product portfolio. It will also add new features in the
next one to two years, Koum said during a call with investors.
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark
Zuckerberg explained that his company
would not monetise messaging systems
via ads. This means that no ads will
appear on WhatsApp.
Another positive aspect is that the use of
WhatsApp together with Facebook's
Internet.org plans will result in increased
connectivity, Digital Spy commented.
Correctly managed, this acquisition could deliver in four clear areas:

3. 1. The first of these is scale. WhatsApp is already big – and has more than 450m users
(320m of whom are active daily) and is growing incredibly fast with around 1m new
joiners every day. While there is clearly a lot of crossover between the WhatsApp
audience and the Facebook user base, it will give additional reach and frequency.
Given its scale, WhatsApp also has the potential to be highly profitable. It’s freemium
business model – free for a year and then just $1annually – is clearly pitched to keep
users on side, whatever their income.
2. The second area is cost. The arrival of closed communications networks such as
WhatsApp created a challenge for social networks, which were by their very nature more
open. As more users – and particularly younger ones – opted for networks and tools that
enabled them to communicate privately, Facebook was faced with a challenge. Did it
build its own system or buy one? Not only would that have been extremely expensive but
we know from experience that it can be extremely hard to displace a dominant digital
service. WhatsApp is already the dominant provider in many markets, particularly in
Europe and India.
3. The third benefit is brand value. Buying a popular service should – if correctly

4. managed – ultimately enhance Facebook’s relevance and appeal. The announcement at
Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that WhatsApp will add voice communications
services to its portfolio is just the start of the potential. With Facebook’s resources, the
ability to build additional utility into the service will only be enhanced and that will only
benefit consumers.
4. Finally purchasing WhatsApp will deliver clear business benefits for Facebook.
Although WhatsApp has foresworn paid advertising – and it needs to keep this pledge to
stop consumers seeking alternatives such as Telegram, Line and Wickr – bringing more
users into the Facebook fold and encouraging existing users to spend more time with
Facebook brands can only boost the use of other Facebook services via smart integration.
The $19bn question is whether these four areas of business benefit are enough to justify
the purchase price.
Facebook is now worth more than $175bn and can clearly afford to pay but what if it had
let WhatsApp continue to develop as an independent company, a brand rooted in mobile
and garnering millions more regular users every day?
Potentially it would be restricting its own growth prospects and allowing no-go areas of
communications to develop
Disadvantages of this deal :
There are certain disadvantages stemming from the acquisition.
1. WhatsApp users may probably be required to have a Facebook login. This means that

5. WhatsApp will gain access to more personal information. After all, Facebook will at least
obtain users' mobile numbers, as the subscription for WhatsApp requires them.
2. Facebook had to drop $19 billion in cash and stocks in order to make the purchase
3.Facebook will be unlikely to purchase other companies that were hopeful, such as
Snapchat
4. Facebook stocks fell 5% hours after the WhatsApp purchase, but now only down by
2.64%

6. WhatsApp will gain access to more personal information. After all, Facebook will at least
obtain users' mobile numbers, as the subscription for WhatsApp requires them.
2. Facebook had to drop $19 billion in cash and stocks in order to make the purchase
3.Facebook will be unlikely to purchase other companies that were hopeful, such as
Snapchat
4. Facebook stocks fell 5% hours after the WhatsApp purchase, but now only down by
2.64%