Facebook surprised everyone yesterday with a $16 billion acquisition of WhatsApp. Fortune reports that Facebook was not the only company which showed interest in the popular messaging app, Google offered to buy WhatsApp for $10 billion.
It remains unclear when the search giant offered to buy WhatsApp, but the deal reportedly came with out a promise of a Google board set, unlike Facebook's agreement.
Mark Zuckerburg, Facebook's CEO, promised WhatsApp CEO and co-founder Jan Koum a seat on Facebook's board of directors following the acquisition. Zuckerburg reportedly proposed the deal to purchase WhatsApp on February 9, with the deal being finalized just a few days later.