Google offered to pay $10 billion for WhatsApp, report says
The big news in the world of tech is Facebook’s $19-billion acquisition of WhatsApp. But Facebook wasn’t the only tech giant to aggressively pursue the popular messaging service: Google also made a hefty bid.
Google offered to pay as much as $10 billion for WhatsApp, according to Fortune, which cited two unnamed sources for its report.
Obviously Facebook ultimately offered more money, but according to Fortune, WhatsApp chose Facebook because the social network also offered a seat on its board of directors to Jan Koum, WhatsApp’s founder and CEO.
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Google’s offer did not include that kind of promise.
However, Google did offer WhatsApp millions of dollars just to be notified if the messaging service began acquisition talks with any other tech companies, according to The Information. The report said WhatsApp ended up turning down that offer.
Neither Facebook, WhatsApp nor Google could be reached for comment.
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