Hitting out at recent reports, smartphone and tablet messaging giant WhatsApp has suggested it is not in talks with Google over a potential $1 billion sale.
Speaking with AllThingsD, Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp’s business development head has denied claims Google has targeted the instant messaging service as part of a potential acquisition, suggesting the company is not for sale.
Earlier this week it was suggested that negotiations between the app giant and the search behemoth had been on-going for more than a month with WhatsApp executive’s claimed to be “playing hardball” in a bid to secure an increased offer from Google.
Far from the first time the application has been pegged as a potential acquisition target, WhatsApp last year denied reports it was in talks with Facebook, who had recently splashed out $1 billion (£655m) for Instagram, suggesting such claims were “not factually accurate.”
Currently one of the most popular and successful applications in the world, WhatsApp is reported to make around $100 million (£65.5m) a year by charging users a small annual fee to utilise its cross platform communication services.
Available across 100 countries and on 750 mobile networks, WhatsApp, which hosts dedicated iOS and Android applications currently processes in the region of 18 billion messages per day, a staggering figure that has been attributed in part to declining SMS growth.
The first time the app specialist has denied the latest reports, yesterday an official WhatApp spokesperson said that the company has “no further information to share at the moment.”
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
