$3 billion is nothing compared to this. Facebook just entered into an agreement to buy Whatsapp for a whopping $16 billion. The messaging app recently passed the milestone of 450 million active monthly users.

The purchase price is $4 billion in cash and $12 billion in Facebook stock. Also, there's another $3 billion in restricted stock given to the founders and employees which vests after four years. That's like $19 billion, no?

WhatsApp has been hugely successful. It works on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Nokia's Symbian OS. It's free for the first year, and then just $1 per year after that.

WhatsApp has 450 million active monthly users and is adding one million users per day. That's an impressive clip.

The reason Facebook is paying so much? They want to nail down this messaging business once and for all. Facebook Messenger is actually a nice product that works over data internationally, much like WhatsApp but unfortunately, people don't use it.

According to a blog post on WhatsApp's website, nothing is going to change. Here's what co-founder Jan Koum had to say on the topic:
WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. You can continue to enjoy the service for a nominal fee. You can continue to use WhatsApp no matter where in the world you are, or what smartphone you're using. And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication. There would have been no partnership between our two companies if we had to compromise on the core principles that will always define our company, our vision and our product.
What will this mean for other competitors like WeChat, Line and KakaoTalk? Which do you use?