4.9.2014   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 297/13

1.

On 29 August 2014, the European Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 and following a referral pursuant to Article 4(5) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which Facebook, Inc. (‘Facebook’, USA) acquires within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation control of the whole of WhatsApp Inc. (‘WhatsApp’, USA) by way of purchase of shares.

2.

The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:

—   for Facebook: provision of websites and mobile applications offering social networking, consumer communication and photo/video sharing functionalities, provision of online advertising space,

—   for WhatsApp: provision of mobile application offering consumer communication functionalities.

3.

On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.

4.

The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.

Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by e-mail to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference number M.7217 — Facebook / WhatsApp, to the following address: