Ann MurrellDr. Rebecca BorahEnglish 1001-027March 28, 2014Was WhatsApp a wise investment for Facebook?Facebook invested $19 million in a text messaging service, WhatsApp. This stunned the tech world and many investors. WhatsApp was founded by two former Yahoo employees, Jan Koum and Brian Acton in 2009. It was built with just 55 people and just 32 engineers, or one WhatsApp developer for every 14 million active users. This also means that Facebook paid $345 million per WhatsApp employee. In the past, with a majority of start-ups, the size of the staff behind the business was a function of the impact of the business. Many of these same investors say the key to good entrepreneurial investing is this: Entrepreneurs who don't want to sell for dollar value, those who aren't in it for the money, are worth it. WhatsApp is a messaging app that lets you share text, images, and videos anywhere, anytime for a dollar a year. One of the most notable traits of WhatsApp is that it is more popular outside the United States, in Europe, India and Latin America. However, “rabbis discourage the use of these apps among ultra-Orthodox Jews, saying they are responsible for divorce in the community” (Steele). It doesn't charge you any extra fees for sending messages and works like modern mobile messaging software. Most monthly plans in the United States include unlimited text messaging, which doesn't exist overseas where carriers charge per message. While 310 million Americans share a single nation and phone network, the rest of the country has to deal with international texting and calls. WhatsApp offers a price-sensitive solution to these international message users...... middle of paper ......14. Internet. March 28, 2014. Marks, Gene. “This app could be the next WhatsApp.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, March 7, 2014. Web. March 07, 2014.Olson, Parmy. "Exclusive: The rags-to-riches story of how Jan Koum integrated WhatsApp into Facebook's new $19 billion baby." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, February 19, 2014. Web. February 25, 2014. Soper, Taylor. "WhatsApp: What is it? Students say 'anything' to Facebook's new $19 billion app." GeekWire. GeekWire, February 20, 2014. Web. February 25, 2014. Steele, Chandra. "What is WhatsApp? An explainer." PCMAG. PCMag, February 20, 2014. Web. February 25, 2014. Vincent, James. "So what is WhatsApp? Meet the messaging app Facebook bought for $19 billion." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, February 20, 2014. Web. February 27, 2014. Ziegler, Maseena. “5 uncool things Facebook could do to WhatsApp.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, February 23, 2014. Web. February 24. 2014.