Google offered to acquire WhatsApp for $10B, report says
That's about half of what Facebook will pay to acquire the WhatsApp messaging service and its 450 million users.
Facebook not only made headlines on Wednesday with its acquisition of WhatsApp, but also might have annoyed some folks in Mountain View.
At the same time that Facebook was wooing WhatsApp, Google offered to acquire the messaging service for $10 billion, Fortune reported Thursday, citing multiple people who claimed to have knowledge of those negotiations. Unlike Facebook, Google wasn't willing to offer a seat on the board of directors, according to Fortune.
Facebook announced a blockbuster deal on Wednesday, saying that it would pay an eventual total of $19 billion to acquire the WhatsApp messaging service. Facebook believes that WhatsApp, which with 450 million users has nearly twice the reach of social darling Twitter, could hit 1 billion active users in the next couple of years, making it a grand opportunity for the social network.
For its part, Google hasn't confirmed that it actually attempted to acquire WhatsApp. However, last year, reports surfaced suggesting that Google was in talks with WhatsApp to acquire the company for $1 billion. WhatsApp quickly threw cold water on those rumors.