Facebook today closed its acquisition of WhatsApp. The deal, announced earlier this year, is valued at $19 billion.
U.S. regulators approved the proposal in April, but it did not receive approval from the European Commission until last week. As part of the deal, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum joined Facebook’s board of directors. He’ll be granted $1.9 billion in stock if he remains with the company for four years.
WhatsApp is a cross-platform messaging service that many use an alternative to traditional, carrier-based SMS services.
