Facebook stunned the tech world Wednesday, announcing its biggest acquisition yet—a $19 billion deal to buy messaging application WhatsApp. Techonomy’s David Kirkpatrick appeared on Bloomberg West Wednesday and on Bloomberg Surveillance Thursday to talk about Mark Zuckerberg’s big move.
“I think this shows that he’s willing to pay whatever it takes to keep on the cutting edge of what is going to be important down the road,” Kirkpatrick, who is also a Bloomberg contributing editor, told Surveillance’s Tom Keene on Thursday.
While critics wonder whether the five-year-old messaging company was worth its hefty price tag, Kirkpatrick believes Zuckerberg made a smart play in acquiring it. WhatsApp boasts 450 million active monthly users, an astounding 70 percent of whom use the app every day. “This is the group of users that Zuckerberg wants—everybody,” Kirkpatrick said. “He is fulfilling his vision, which is to be a platform for communication and sharing for everyone who lives.”