Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (pscrb.fm) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
We kick off Season 6 with a long-awaited Acquired Classic: Facebook’s $22B purchase of WhatsApp in 2014, which still ranks as the largest acquisition of a private VC-backed startup in history. Yet despite that enormous pricetag and all its associated fanfare, as we sit here 5+ years later WhatsApp actually generates LESS revenue than the meager ~$20m it was bringing in at the time of acquisition. Was this this worst acquisition of all-time, or a brilliant strategic chess move by Mark Zuckerberg & co? Tune in as we render Acquired’s judgement!
Note: Unfortunately David’s audio quality in this episode was impacted by a technical glitch which we didn’t discover until after recording. Our editors worked super hard to fix in post-production, but it’s still not totally perfect. We hope you’ll give it a listen regardless, and we’re working on getting a transcript made ASAP, which we’ll post to the website when it’s ready. Thanks for bearing with us,
-Ben & David
Sponsors:
- WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
- Intapp: https://bit.ly/intappceleste
- Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
- Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25
More Acquired!
- Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
- Join the Slack
- Subscribe to ACQ2
- Merch Store!
© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC
Carve Outs:
- Ben: Computer glasses: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=computer+glasses
- David: Reebok Floatrides: https://www.amazon.com/Reebok-Forever-Floatride-Energy-Black/dp/B07NYBRQ96/
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/02/19/exclusive-inside-story-how-jan-koum-built-whatsapp-into-facebooks-new-19-billion-baby/#64c1c94b2fa1
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/03/04/inside-the-facebook-whatsapp-megadeal-the-courtship-the-secret-meetings-the-19-billion-poker-game/#63d8b5c4350f
- https://www.wired.com/2015/09/whatsapp-serves-900-million-users-50-engineers/
- https://youtu.be/v6PbymjXsto
- https://youtu.be/X4YsJt4rIOI
- https://overcast.fm/+WorS9-a74
- https://youtu.be/-2CAWS7M_0w
- https://youtu.be/X4YsJt4rIOI
- https://www.wired.co.uk/article/whats-app-owner-founder-jan-koum-facebook
- https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/whatsapp-brian-acton-delete-facebook-stanford-lecture
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2018/09/26/exclusive-whatsapp-cofounder-brian-acton-gives-the-inside-story-on-deletefacebook-and-why-he-left-850-million-behind/#7475a0213f20
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-06-28/tencent-rules-china-the-problem-is-the-rest-of-the-world
- https://techcrunch.com/2013/07/16/whatsapp-free/
- http://allthingsd.com/tag/jan-koum/
- http://allthingsd.com/20130510/whatsapp-ceo-jan-koum-hates-advertising-and-the-tech-rumor-mill-full-dive-video/
- https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/31/whatsapp-hits-1-5-billion-monthly-users-19b-not-so-bad/
- https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000633/Building-for-People-and-Now-Businesses
- https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/05/whatsapp-business-app/
- https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/21/whatsapp/
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/whatsapp-founder-plans-to-leave-after-broad-clashes-with-parent-facebook/2018/04/30/49448dd2-4ca9-11e8-84a0-458a1aa9ac0a_story.html
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/whatsapp-backs-off-controversial-plan-to-sell-ads-11579207682
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-the-messy-expensive-split-between-facebook-and-whatsapps-founders-1528208641?mod=article_inline
- https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/05/whatsapp-co-founder-stresses-independence-from-facebook/?mod=article_inline
- https://bgr.com/2020/01/17/whatsapp-ads-2020-facebook-canceled-plans-to-bring-ads-to-status-bar/
- https://www.vox.com/2018/5/8/17329524/whatsapp-new-ceo-facebook-cofounder-jan-koum-departs
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chdaniels/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkoum/