Facebook Extends Deadline for Closing Acquisition of WhatsApp by One Year

Facebook is extending its deadline to close its acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp by one year, to Aug 19, 2015. The original deadline was Aug 19, 2014.

If the transaction is not finalized by Aug 19, 2015, Facebook must pay a $1 billion termination fee to WhatsApp and issue the company the equivalent of $1 billion worth of class-A shares of Facebook common stock. Things are not moving as smoothly overseas at it did with the Federal Trade Commission’s conditioned approval in April.

Facebook requested in May that the European Commission review the deal, hoping to avoid antitrust investigations by several individual countries in the European Union. The EC investigation is still ongoing.