So Facebook is buying mobile messaging platform WhatsApp for a whopping $16 billion, yes, with a ‘b’.

I’ve never used the app so can’t really comment on what its truly like, I’ve seen plenty of people talk about it, and have looked at it in the AppStore several times, but its crappy UI design stopped the exploration there. Besides I barely use SMS or iMessage, certainly don’t need another app.

But, you know, good on the WhatsApp folk, they’ve developed a successful product with hundreds of millions of users, no easy feat.

But $16 billion is a lot of fucking money - says the guy whose latest app is yet to make $16 in total - if WhatsApp were a country, ranked by GDP, it would come in at 113th ahead of Georgia, Jamaica and Papua New Guinea. (image in case the WikiPedia page has been ‘fixed’)

Remember not that long ago when everyone went ape-shit because Instagram sold for $1 billion? And Skype before it. Yeah, bargains.

Anyway, its over-simplified, but here’s how I imagine the conversation going between Facebook and WhatsApp.

FB: “We want you”

WA: (internally) “Meh, we’re not really super interested, people seem to be getting a little bit anti-facebook, and maybe that’s why they are using our product to begin with, let’s just give them some huge fuck off number that they won’t pay and then they’ll go away.”

WA: “Ok, $16 billion and you can have us”.

FB: “Deal.”

WA: (internally) “Wow. Ok. Did not expect that. Fool$.”