A Whatsapp App page is seen on Facebook on a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone
IN PHOTO: A Whatsapp App page is seen on Facebook on a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, February 20, 2014. Facebook Inc will buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock in a landmark deal that places the world's largest social network closer to the heart of mobile communications and may bring younger users into the fold. Reuters/Dado Ruvic

Facebook has now become the official owner of WhatsApp. On Feb 20, Facebook said that it would be taking over WhatsApp in a $19 billion deal. The deal was approved by FTC (Federal Trade Commission) in April. With the approval, FTC warned both parties to continue to follow the policy of not collecting and sharing userdata like usernames and contact details like phone numbers and email address with third parties.

Even though the acquisition was approved in April, Facebook was waiting to get the last approval from the European Commission. Last Friday, Facebook cleared all the regulatory hurdles and now WhatsApp is officially a property of Facebook.

According to GSMArena, WhatsApp will continue to function independently after the acquisition by Facebook. Also, Facebook will not display any ads while users converse on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp has over 600 million active users every month. The company has over 70 employees and is based in Mountain View in California. The app is immensely popular in countries like Brazil, India and Russia. WhatsApp aims to add new features like voice calling by the end of the year, states CNet. According to Forbes, WhatsApp is ranked as the largest mobile messaging service.

WhatsApp is available on various platforms like Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry OS and Symbian. For the first year, the app can be used free of charge. Thereafter, users will have to pay $0.99 each year to use it.

According to CNBC, post acquisition, Jan Koum, founder of WhatsApp, will work as the chief executive of WhatsApp and will also serve as Facebook director. He will earn a base salary of $1 annually.

The original deal was $19 billion. The rising stock price of Facebook has allowed the Facebook WhatsApp deal to close at $21.9 million. According to Economic Times, no other big companies like Google, Apple or Microsoft has struck such a huge acquisition that Facebook has achieved. The finalization of the deal was revealed through a joint statement.

In yet another acquisition, Yahoo has taken over the startup MessageMe. It is a messaging service that works like WhatsApp. MessageMe will shut down and its 8 employees will work with Yahoo on their mobile communications products.