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Facebook Wraps Up $19 Billion WhatsApp Deal That’s Now Worth $22 Billion

by Peter Kafka
Peter Kafka
Peter Kafka covered media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.

Facebook has closed its deal for messaging startup WhatsApp, after receiving the go-ahead from European Union regulators last week. WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum is now a Facebook board member, and has an “inducement grant” of stock currently worth $1.9 billion if he stays with the company for the next four years. The deal price, originally announced in February as $19 billion, has now risen to $21.8 billion, primarily because the value of Facebook stock has increased.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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