Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014 under the name Facebook. On February 19, Facebook, Inc. announced an agreement to acquire the messaging company for about $19 billion.
The deal consisted of $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in Facebook shares, and roughly $3 billion in restricted stock units for WhatsApp’s founders and employees. At the time, it was Facebook’s largest acquisition and one of the biggest purchases of a venture-backed technology company.
WhatsApp had been founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton. Its rapid growth came from simple, cross-platform messaging tied to phone numbers rather than public social profiles. Facebook said the acquisition fit its broader Internet.org vision, while WhatsApp’s leadership emphasized that the app would continue operating independently.
The company’s name later changed as Facebook rebranded itself Meta Platforms in 2021. That later corporate identity can create confusion in a historical trivia question, but the buyer in 2014 was Facebook, Inc., not Meta. Google had reportedly made acquisition offers earlier, but WhatsApp declined them.