Social networking giant Facebook announced that has reached a definitive agreement to acquire personal real-time messaging network, Whatsapp for a total worth of $19 billion in cash and stocks. As per the deal, Facebook will be paying with $4 billion in cash, 184 million shares of Facebook worth $12 billion and 46 million RSU’s (Restricted Stock Unit) worth $3 billion.

WhatsApp will remain autonomous and operate independently. Its headquarters will remain in Mountain View, CA. Whatsapp co-founder and CEO, Jan Koum will be joining Facebook’s Board of Directors and WhatsApp’s core messaging product and Facebook’s existing Messenger app will continue to operate as standalone applications.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, said, "WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable. I've known Jan for a long time and I'm excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected."

Jan Koum, said, “WhatsApp's extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide. We're excited and honored to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world.”

Five years since its launch Whatsapp has grown at an unprecedented rate. It has 450 million monthly active users and 320 million daily active users. There seems to be no stopping Whatsapp as it continues to add more than 1 million new registered users per day. Whatsapp messaging volume is approaching entire global SMS telecom volume.

In this acquisition deal, Facebook was advised by Allen & Company LLC and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and WhatsApp was advised by Morgan Stanley and Fenwick & West, LLP.