As you might have heard by now, Facebook has announced its plans to acquire popular instant messaging app, WhatsApp, for an eye-watering $16 billion with an extra $3 billion in RSUs. This is a lot of money for the company who has remained largely independent, save for an investment of $60 million by Sequoia Capital, according to Fortune. For the most part investors who choose to invest do so because they want to reap the benefits of their investments later down the road, and in this case it looks like Sequoia Capital could be walking away with a lot of money. While the percentage of WhatsApp owned by Sequoia Capital was not disclosed, sources of The Verge have suggested that it could be between 10 to 20 percent.
What this means is that the investment company could reap as much as $3.2 billion in both cash and stock. For an investment of $60 million, this is a huge returns and we’re pretty sure the folks at Sequoia Capital are pretty darn happy about it. In a way it is a little ironic because back in December of 2013, WhatsApp’s CEO, Jan Koum, was quoted as saying that the company had no intention of selling itself or going public. This is because costs of the company were relatively low mainly due to the fact that there was no money spent on activities such as marketing, which typically takes up a huge chunk of a company’s budget. Either way at the end of the day, it looks like not only is this a win for WhatsApp, but a win for its investor as well.