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February 20, 2014, 7:30 AM
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Facebook:
Facebook to acquire WhatsApp for $4B cash, $12B in Facebook shares, and $3B in restricted stock units, CEO Koum to join Facebook's Board  —  Facebook to Acquire WhatsApp  —  Facebook today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire WhatsApp, a rapidly growing cross …
Jim Goetz / Sequoia Capital:
WhatsApp in numbers: 450M active users, 32 engineers, $0 in marketing, and only $1/year to use  —  Four Numbers That Explain Why Facebook Acquired WhatsApp  —  WhatsApp Co-Founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton  —  Earlier today, Facebook announced its acquisition of WhatsApp for $16 billion.
Jan Koum / WhatsApp Blog:
WhatsApp says it will remain autonomous and nothing will change for users  —  Facebook  —  Almost five years ago we started WhatsApp with a simple mission: building a cool product used globally by everybody.  Nothing else mattered to us.  —  Today we are announcing a partnership …
Parmy Olson / Forbes:
Jan Koum's rag-to-riches tale, which ended with him signing the WhatsApp deal on the door of his former welfare office  —  How Jan Koum Built WhatsApp Into Facebook's New $19 Billion Baby  —  Jan Koum picked a meaningful spot to sign the $19 billion deal to sell his company WhatsApp to Facebook earlier today.
More: Open Gardens.  Thanks:@rmac18
TechCrunch:
Why Facebook Dropped $19B On Whatsapp: Reach Into Europe, Emerging Markets  —  With 450 million monthly users and a million more signing up each day, WhatsApp was just too far ahead in the international mobile messaging race for Facebook Messenger to catch up as you can see in the 2013 chart above.
Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook:
WhatsApp and Messenger serve different uses, Facebook will continue investing in both  —  I'm excited to announce that we've agreed to acquire WhatsApp and that their entire team will be joining us at Facebook.  —  Our mission is to make the world more open and connected.
David Rowan / Wired.co.uk:
WhatsApp: The inside story  —  When he was living on welfare, Jan Koum's family collected food stamps a couple of blocks from the unmarked Mountain View office that now houses his messaging company, WhatsApp.  An émigré at 16 from Communist Ukraine — where phones were routinely tapped …
Amir Efrati / The Information:
Google offered to pay WhatsApp to notify them of any acquisition talks, but was rebuffed  —  Google's Unusual Offer to WhatsApp  —  More than six months ago, Google approached WhatsApp with an odd offer: It would pay the mobile messaging startup in exchange for the right to be notified …
Tweets: @howardlindzon
Benedict Evans:
WhatsApp's acquisition illustrates most of the key trends in consumer tech today  —  Whatsapp and $19bn  —  Facebook just bought WhatsApp, paying $16bn in cash and stock and $3bn in RSUs.  WhatsApp has 450m active users, of which 72% are active every day.  It has just 32 engineers.
Tweets: @sfiegerman and @stevesi
Zoran Basich / Venture Capital Dispatch:
Facebook's $19 Billion WhatsApp Acquisition Is Largest Ever for Venture-Backed Company
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
How One Scammer Manipulated Apple's Top Charts To Earn Tens Of Thousands Daily Using A $10 GameSalad Template  —  Something fishy has been going on with Apple's App Store top charts.  No, I'm not talking about “Flappy Bird” (well, maybe that too), but rather how on earth two different developers used …
Tom Simonite / MIT Technology Review:
Yahoo Launches $10 Million Research Effort to Invent a Smarter Siri  —  Academics at CMU will try to extend Yahoo's services with mobile apps that act like personal assistants.  —  Yahoo's future mobile apps could come with a dash of intelligence that lets them act like personal assistants.
More: Yahoo Labs
Matt McGee / Marketing Land:
Yahoo Gemini Brings Together Mobile Search & Native Ads In Single Ad Marketplace  —  Yahoo has announced a new ad marketplace that combines mobile search and native ads.  —  It's called Yahoo Gemini and it's available as part of Yahoo Ad Manager, the company's existing self-service ad buying platform.
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
Grand St Launches Self-Serve Marketplace For Hardware Makers To List Their Goods  —  Online gadget retailer Grand St wants to be the go-to spot for interesting new hardware to be sold online.  But after curating a daily selection of goods, the company is opening up its e-commerce shop …
Washington Post:
DHS cancels national license plate tracking plan  —  Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Wednesday ordered the cancelation of a plan by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to develop a national license plate tracking system after privacy advocates raised concern about the initiative.
More: Engadget and The Verge
Rich McCormick / The Verge:
T-Mobile offers $250 to upgrading BlackBerry users after manufacturer and fan outrage  —  Carrier also offers $200 to upgrade to from BlackBerry to another manufacturer's phone  —  BlackBerry users on T-Mobile who want to upgrade will now receive $250 towards any BlackBerry phone …

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From Mediagazer

Matthew Belloni / Puck:
Although sources suggest Paramount wouldn't sell CNN to appease state regulators overseeing the WBD deal, it may save the company from a protracted legal battle

Washington Post:
The US Supreme Court paused a lower court order that would have forced ex-Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge to reveal a source or pay $800 a day in sanctions

Nate Raymond / Reuters:
The US federal judiciary plans to temporarily increase PACER fees from $0.10 to $0.12 per page for five years starting January 1, 2027, to fund a system upgrade

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Josh Lowensohn / The Verge:
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