Explained: Why paying $19 billion for WhatsApp is SMART!

When news broke that Facebook paid a massive $16 billion and offered $3 billion in restricted stock to acquire WhatsApp, many thought the move was foolish. It was a bold move afterall, since Facebook paid a huge slice of its own worth to acquire a messaging app that only has 55 employees.

The Harvard dropout sees far into the future with this acquisition.

Keyboard warriors even took to Twitter and Facebook to lash out on the move. Why would Facebook pay such a staggering sum to acquire WhatsApp, who received a revenue of only $20 million in 2013?

Here are my top 5 reasons:

• WhatsApp could potentially be Facebook's largest competitor. Offense is the best defense here. With WhatsApp's incredible growth rate (1 million new users a day), it could eventually gobble Facebook's business. Yahoo once made this mistake by passing on the opportunity to acquire Google for $5 billion in 2002. Today, Google is worth

Bombshell: Facebook acquires WhatsApp for $16 billion!

As the old saying goes, "If you can't beat them, join them." Facebook purchased Whatsapp messaging service today for a whopping $16 billion. The massive acquisition is confirmed by a filing from Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Zuckerberg says the entire Whatsapp team will join Facebook.

The deal includes $4 billion in cash and $12 billion worth of Facebook shares. Whatsapp staff would