WhatsApp was the subject of a recent rumor regarding a $1 Billion acquisition by Google, a rumor that now looks to be completely false.
When speaking with AllThingsD, WhatsApp’s business development head Neeraj Arora denied the rumors, saying that company is not holding talks with Google despite what the earlier reports were claiming. That’s really all Arora said on the matter, refusing to comment further.
WhatsApp has been the subject of buyout rumors before. Back in December, Facebook was said to have its sights set on the popular messaging service, but those rumors were also proven to be inaccurate, as were earlier rumors suggesting that WhatsApp was going to be launching a social mobile gaming service similar to that offered by Kik Messenger, KakaoTalk, or LINE.
WhatsApp Messenger costs $0.99 on iOS as of this year and, in some countries, the service costs $0.99 per year on Android. Here’s hoping we won’t see anymore buyout rumors surface for a while.