According to a regulatory filing, social networking giant Facebook is buying one of the leading cross platform instant messaging app Whatsapp for a whopping $16 billion in cash and stock.
The filing notes that the agreement has been reached to between Facebook and Whatsapp on February 19 and according to the deal, Facebook will have to shell out $12 billion in Facebook shares, $4 billion in cash and an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units for employee retention.
The filing further notes that the merger is expected to close sometime in late 2014 and once complete Jan Koum, WhatsApp’s co-founder and CEO, will become a member of Facebook’s board of directors.
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