Popular messaging app WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for $19 billion yesterday, and a new report claims that Google tried acquiring the service as well.
According to Forbes, Google offered $10 billion, and sources hint that Facebook also giving WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum a seat on its board was the ace in the hole.
The tech giant declined to comment on the potential offer, but another report from The Information seems to suggest Google was definitely interested in the messaging service.
According to writer Amir Efrati, Google offered to pay WhatsApp to let it know about any acquisition offers from other companies.
The unusual offer was said to be worth millions of dollars, but WhatsApp did not accept.
Whether either report is true or not, Facebook’s offer was hard to refuse, and gives it freedom to operate independently of the world’s largest social network.
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