EU Antitrust Body OKs Facebook’s $19B WhatsApp Bid

October 3, 2014 Kyle Yeldell Technology 0
This Feb. 19, 2014 file photo shows the WhatsApp and Facebook app icons on an iPhone in New York. More “headline-grabbing” acquisitions are likely over the coming year as businesses take advantage of a period of improving economic growth and cheap financing, according to business consulting firm EY. Facebook announced its biggest ever acquisition with a proposed $19 billion takeover of WhatsApp. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
This Feb. 19, 2014 file photo shows the WhatsApp and Facebook app icons on an iPhone in New York. More “headline-grabbing” acquisitions are likely over the coming year as businesses take advantage of a period of improving economic growth and cheap financing, according to business consulting firm EY. Facebook announced its biggest ever acquisition with a proposed $19 billion takeover of WhatsApp. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
This Feb. 19, 2014 file photo shows the WhatsApp and Facebook app icons on an iPhone in New York. More “headline-grabbing” acquisitions are likely over the coming year as businesses take advantage of a period of improving economic growth and cheap financing, according to business consulting firm EY. Facebook announced its biggest ever acquisition with a proposed $19 billion takeover of WhatsApp. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)

 

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s antitrust authority says it has approved Facebook’s proposed $19 billion takeover of the messaging service WhatsApp.

The 28-nation bloc’s executive Commission said Friday the deal may go ahead because consumers will continue to have a wide choice of alternative communication apps they could use. Facebook Inc. runs its own mobile messaging service with its Messenger app but the EU found the merged entity “would continue to face sufficient competition.”

EU antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia says “while Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are two of the most popular apps, most people use more than one communications app.”

The Commission says WhatsApp — launched in 2009 — has some 600 million users globally. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes it will reach 1 billion in a few years.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Related Articles

Technology

Facebook Takes Blame for Service Outages, Which Hit Wider Web

January 27, 2015 Kyle Yeldell Technology 0

  (Reuters) – Access to Facebook (FB.O), the world’s largest social network, and its Instagram photo-sharing site, were blocked around the world for up to an hour on Tuesday, which the company said later was due to an internal fault and not an outside attack. The outage Read More

Business

Facebook Working on Private Sharing App, Report Says

September 17, 2014 Reporter II Business 0

Adario Strange, MASHABLE   MENLO PARK, Ca. (Mashable.com)—Facebook is reportedly working on a new app designed to encourage private content sharing — by making the process even more personal. Citing multiple sources, a report on Techcrunch claims that the current code name for the app is “Moments” and will Read More

Technology

Facebook Adds New Gender Option for Users: Fill in the Blank

February 27, 2015 Kyle Yeldell Technology 0

MARTHA MENDOZA, AP National Writer Facebook users who don’t fit any of the 58 gender identity options offered by the social media giant are now being given a rather big 59th option: fill in the blank. “Now, if you do not identify with the pre-populated Read More

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.