After Facebook took the throne from MySpace as the social media giant, a lot of social media platforms had come and left - None was able to stand up against Facebook.
Only a few major platforms like Twitter and Instagram were able to keep up with Facebook.
There are a lot of factors why Facebook is where it is today. From the right planning to change with the trend and of course luck! But there’s something major we are missing out here. Acquisitions!
Once Facebook started to gain track, Mark Zuckerberg kept the momentum going by acquiring companies coming up with new technologies and of course talents. Those acquisitions moved the company from going to incline and where it is today.
Acquisition History
Let’s go to the not so boring history. As we get to know Facebook more, it is important to find the heart of everything that made this possible.
Let's discuss the top 3 acquisitions before we dive into the Infographic.
Facebook acquired Whatsapp for a whopping $19 billion on February 19, 2014. The mobile instant messaging app, based in Mountain View, USA stands the largest acquisition to date by Whatsapp. The free messaging app reaches half a billion people each month.
Although some criticized Facebook for overpaying for a free service, It gained huge popularity and access to a new user base especially overseas.
Oculus VR
Facebook acquired Oculus on March 25, 2014 for $2,000,000,000. Oculus is a virtual reality tech company, and its flagship product is Oculus Rift. According to Zuckerberg, the goal is to first develop an immersive VR gaming and then expand to include all sorts of virtual experiences, including social networking. Mark Zuckerberg said that Oculus could change social media dramatically in a way people around the world share their moments on Facebook.
Instagram was acquired for $1 billion on April 9, 2012, which makes it one of the largest acquisitions made by Facebook. Instagram’s photo-sharing social network still operates under its own brand name although most of its features have been integrated with Facebook.
From the acquisition, Instagram has changed a long way from being just an image sharing platform to bringing in the Instagram business account profile opening its way to advertising, promotion and a whole new world for online business.
The team from TechWyse had done some research and created a complete list of companies acquired by Facebook in their infographic. Here they are:
Key Takeaways
- Valuation of top 3 acquisitions made by Facebook crosses $1 billion mark
- Largest Acquisitions made by Facebook is WhatsApp in 2014 which they spent $22 Billion
- Facebook has spent more than $25 Billion on their top 10 acquisitions.