The Great Startup Sellout and the Rise of Oligopoly

Startup acquisitions by incumbent firms have been on the rise for the last few years. These acquisitions often allow larger companies to acquire new technologies or talent, while startups gain access to resources and a wider customer base. One notable example is the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook in 2014 for a reported $19 billion. WhatsApp was a relatively small startup at the time, with only 55 employees, but had gained immense popularity as a messaging app with over 450 million active users. Facebook saw the potential for growth in messaging and decided to acquire WhatsApp to expand its own … Read more