Rumor: Asian chat company wants to take over calling app Viber

An Asian internet company wants to take over the calling app Viber, an Israeli newspaper reports on the basis of anonymous sources. The calling app has 200 million users and should generate between 220 million and 290 million euros.

The business newspaper Calcalist does not report which Asian company, which according to the information is already in the chip market, is interested in Viber. The fact that a newspaper from Israel has learned this is probably because Viber is an Israeli company. The company operates from Cyprus.

The Asian giant would offer between 220 million and 290 million euros for Viber, which has 200 million customers in 193 countries. Viber works as a ‘WhatsApp for calling’ and allows users to call each other for free via voip. The similarity with WhatsApp is that Viber reads the user’s contact list and matches it with its own user database, eliminating the need for a separate contact account.

It is unclear whether and when Viber, which is owned by the founders, will be sold. Companies that fit the paper’s description include e-commerce company Alibaba, Japanese chat app maker Line and Chinese social networking company Sina.