Facebook closed its deal to acquire messaging application WhatsApp, which it announced in February in an deal worth $19 billion at the time. The social network received approval from the European Commission on Saturday to move forward with the acquisition, which had been opposed by some European telecommunications companies.
The deal is now worth close to $22 billion, mostly due to the increased value of Facebook stock, as Recode notes.
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum will join the Facebook board of directors and follow Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s lead of earning a base salary of just $1 per year.
Lead image by Madeleine Weiss for ReadWrite
