Facebook paid per subscriber but in the US

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ANDREW GOLDBERG SVP MARKETING STRATEGY DIALOGIC INC. I agree with Professor Heskett s perspective that the valuation criteria on the WhatsApp deal are rather stratospheric but one has to also acknowledge that strategics justify their purchase price on what they can do with the asset rather than how the asset was performing pre deal. Heskett mentions that a text subscriber is worth per year month for unlimited SMS so perhaps the price paid is a discount assuming they have their own monetization strategy.

In addition Facebook may aspire to offer a broader array of mobile based services and given the weakness of its own Messenger solution saw WhatsApp as a price of entry to global messaging especially in emerging markets and Chinese Overseas America Number Data far less expensive than acquiring a mobile carrier of its own. Alternatively Facebook also has to hope that WhatsApp doesn t become a DrawSomething acquired by Zynga where subscribers leave in d roves because it s not cool anymore. What s also missing is whether Facebook was in an auction and made the move for competitive purposes but with a very high walkaway price.





It s hard to imagine that WhatsApp would not have accepted billion or billion let alone the price paid unless another acquirer such as Google Yahoo or Baidu was in the mix. Only time will tell. As for the bubble I think the market has been a harsh partner as of late punishing once magical growth stocks such as Groupon and has been doing a good job of regulating itself. SHANKAR N MANDAPAKA DIRECTOR MASTIC CONSULTANCY SERVICES PRIVATE LIMITED The earlier dot com bubble was due to lack of proper valuation mechanisms to capture internet traffic and customers.