Facebook buys Whatsapp for $11 billion

But it was Facebook that successfully brokered a deal that saw them gain the contacts and information belonging to 450 million users worldwide.

So what did Facebook offer that Google didn’t? An extra $10 billion.

Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant Facebook bought the popular messaging service Whatsapp for a total of £11billion, which was split into cash, stock, shares and safety-net packages incase of business malpractice during the partnership.

In 2012 Facebook shocked the industry by spending $1 billion to acquire Instagram - a sum many thought was too high for the app. By spending ten times that amount on Whatsapp, the social platform has highlighted itself as a sales force to be reckoned with, and cemented its position within the market, as well as updating the idea that no company or cost is out of reach for Mark Zuckerberg and his team.