What company owns WhatsApp and what country is it from - briefly?
Meta Platforms, Inc., a multinational technology conglomerate based in the United States, owns WhatsApp.
What company owns WhatsApp and what country is it from - in detail?
WhatsApp, one of the most popular messaging applications globally, is owned by Meta Platforms Inc., formerly known as Facebook Inc. The company was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes while they were students at Harvard University. Initially called TheFacebook, the platform aimed to connect people within the university's community but quickly expanded to include other educational institutions, businesses, and eventually the general public.
In 2014, Facebook Inc. acquired WhatsApp for approximately $19 billion in a cash-and-stock deal. This acquisition was one of the largest in technology history and marked a significant step for Facebook in expanding its reach into mobile messaging. At the time of the acquisition, WhatsApp had over 450 million active users worldwide, with a rapidly growing user base particularly in developing countries.
Facebook Inc., now known as Meta Platforms Inc., is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States. The company has since become a global technology leader, focusing on connecting people through various social media platforms and innovative technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality. WhatsApp continues to operate independently within the Meta umbrella, maintaining its focus on secure and reliable communication for users around the world.
The acquisition of WhatsApp by Meta Platforms Inc. has allowed the messaging app to leverage Facebook's extensive resources and infrastructure, leading to improvements in features and user experience. Despite the integration with other Meta services, WhatsApp remains committed to its core mission of providing a simple, reliable, and private way for people to communicate.