Item — HN Reader

We don’t even need to go that far. Facebook snooped in users via an advertised VPN app to make WhatsApp and Instagram acquisitions. That in itself should be enough fodder to discuss them.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-onavo-gives-social-me...

1 comments

Instagram was way before Onavo acquisition. WhatsApp was officially announced as an acquisition 4 months after Onavo purchase. The article does say insiders say they used Onavo for WhatsApp purchase decision.

However I’m assuming you don’t do a $19B acquisition (and 10% of your market cap) in a month. Wouldn’t Facebook have already been close to or starting the process of trying to buy WhatsApp before the end of 2013? Onavo was announced as a purchase in mid Oct 2013.