Facebook Says Goodwill Makes Up $15.3 Billion Of WhatsApp's Value

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Facebook for the first time detailed its preliminary accounting for the message service WhatsApp that it acquired. WhatsApp's goodwill is valued at $15.3 billion, and "primarily attributable to expected synergies from future growth, from potential monetization opportunities, from strategic advantages provided in the mobile ecosystem and from expansion of our mobile messaging offerings," Facebook said. Facebook said it will test WhatsApp's goodwill for impairment at least annually. Of the intangible assets, it finds WhatsApp's acquired users worth $2.03 billion, its tradename worth $448 million, and its acquired technology worth $288 million. In 2013, WhatsApp lost $138 million on revenue of $10 million.