Facebook Buying WhatsApp for $16B in Cash and Stock Plus $3B in RSUs
<p><pre><code>    400,000,000 active users [0]
    16,000,000,000 USD
    ----
    $40 per user
</code></pre>
That's an incredible cost. We can assume Facebook is paying for the userbase, the app itself and it's infrastructure would basically run itself. It's less appealing when you realise that there's probably a miniscule fraction of WhatsApp users that don't have a Facebook account.<p>> <i>WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. You can continue to enjoy the service for a nominal fee</i><p>Now it makes even less sense.<p>[0]: <a href="http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2013/12/400-million-stories/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.whatsapp.com/index.php/2013/12/400-million-stori...</a>