Facebook’s massive purchase of WhatsApp will surely make headlines for a long time. Not only was the acquisition itself worthy of one of the most storied acquisitions in history, it also proved not only Facebook’s commitment to mobile, but also proved the value of the growing OTT space.
Recently, Bill Gates sat down with Rolling Stone to have a one-on-one, in which he revealed not only his opinion on the purchase, but also that Microsoft had been eying the purchase as well. The full segment of the interview follows:
If there’s a deal that symbolizes where Silicon Valley is today, it’s Facebook’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp. What does that say about the economics of Silicon Valley right now?
It means that Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be the next Facebook. Mark has the credibility to say, “I’m going to spend $19 billion to buy something that has essentially no revenue model.” I think his aggressiveness is wise – although the price is higher than I would have expected. It shows that user bases are extremely valuable. It’s software; it can morph into a broad set of things – once you’re set up communicating with somebody, you’re not just going to do text. You’re going to do photos, you’re going to share documents, you’re going to play games together.
“Microsoft was willing to buy it, too”
Apparently, Google was looking at it.
Yeah, yeah. Microsoft was willing to buy it, too……..I don’t know if it was for $19 billion, but the company’s extremely valuable.
With Microsoft already owning Skype as well as Lync, it would have been interesting to see how it would have managed a third OTT application (or a fourth if you count Windows Live Messenger, which had been completely absorbed into Skype earlier this year).