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> Instagram and WhatsApp purchases were _very_ good calls Elementary call when you have the data no-one else has thanks to illicit means and explicitly decided
by lenkite 3mo ago
> Instagram and WhatsApp purchases were _very_ good calls
Elementary call when you have the data no-one else has thanks to illicit means and explicitly decided on a buy or bury strategy
- pavlov 3mo agoA very HN comment... At the time, almost nobody felt spending billions acquiring these companies was "elementary". Instagram was bought so early that spending a billion on a startup was unheard of. And WhatsApp was so expensive that they questioned Zuck's sanity. You mention two strategic enablers that made these unusual acquisitions seem obvious to FB leadership. So were those two not good calls?
- tchalla 3mo agoThe parent comment is referring to a “VPN” installed by Facebook on users phone that surreptitiously sent telemetry data to Facebook. No one else had that information.
- alex1138 3mo agoAnd also even if they never had Onavo you have Zuck furiously backpedaling in an email about I'm not saaaaaaaying we should acquire IG to wipe them out from the landscape of competition, but........ And then you have the WA founder (Acton) famously saying delete facebook Some acquisitions make the product better or are altruistic. Zuck's war chest isn't one of them