How much cash did Facebook pay as part of its 2014 WhatsApp deal?

Facebook paid $4 billion in cash as part of its 2014 WhatsApp acquisition. The rest of the original deal consisted mainly of Facebook shares and restricted stock units.

Announced on February 19, 2014, the transaction was valued at approximately $19 billion. Its structure included $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook stock, and an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units for WhatsApp employees and founders Brian Acton and Jan Koum. The final value changed with Facebook’s share price, but the cash component remained the specifically reported $4 billion.

A frequent mistake is to answer with the headline deal value rather than the cash portion. The figures are related but not interchangeable: $19 billion describes the approximate overall package, while $4 billion identifies the money Facebook paid directly in cash. The acquisition was Facebook’s largest at the time and one of the biggest technology purchases in history.