All the Major Companies Worth Less Than WhatsApp
Today, Facebook announced the acquisition of WhatsApp, the largest acquisition of any venture backed company in history. Started in 2009, the Company only raised $8 million and today is used by 450 million users globally across their mobile devices per month. Another remarkable stat is that - it only has 50 employees and never embraced the advertising model, only recently starting a $0.99/a year subscription model. Being a Facebook shareholder, only time will tell if this acquisition ends up being a smart move for them.
But, here's a list of companies that have been around for a lot longer than WhatsApp and as of today are worth a lot less. Interestingly enough, all of these companies listed below have tangible goods - things you can touch and feel with solid profitability. WhatsApp on the other hand has a massive user base. Only time will tell what is important.
Congrats WhatsApp on a great exit. You've officially made history today and are an inspiration to many entrepreneurs.
Activison-Blizzard – $13.9B
Alcoa – $12.2B
American Airlines – $12.3B
Akamai – $10.9B
AmerisourceBergen – $15.9
Blackstone Group – $17.8B
Campbell Soup – $13.6
Chesapeake Energy – $17.2B
Chipotle – $17.1B
Citrix Systems – $10.7B
Coach – $13.5B
Consolidated Edison (ConEd) – $16.2B
Discovery Communicatons – $19.1B
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group – $10.2B
Expedia -$10.2B
The Gap – $19B
Fidelity – $15.8B
Harley-Davidson – $14.1B
Hertz – $11.5B
Icahn Enterprises -$13.1B
The J.M. Smucker Company – $10B
Kohl’s – $11.1B
Kroger – $19.4
Loews – $17B
Macy’s – $19.6B
Marriott International – $15.4B
Mattel – $12B
MGM Resorts – $12.7
Monster Beverage – $12B
Moody’s – $17.08B
News Corp – $10.27B
Nielsen – $17.6B
Nordstrom – $11.4B
Progressive – $14.3B
Ralph Lauren – $14.2B
Red Hat – $11.1B
Royal Caribbean Cruises – $11.4B
Ryanair – $15.5B
Sherwin-Williams – $19.4B
Southwest Airlines – $14.7B
Starwood Hotels & Resorts – $14.9B
Symantec – $14.4B
TD Ameritrade – $18.4B
The Carlyle Group – $11.1B
Tiffany & Co. – $11.4B
Tyson Foods – $13.1B
Under Armour – $11.4B
Whole Foods Market – $19.3B
Workday – $17B
Xerox – $13.2B
And to make this story even sweeter. One of the co-founders, who is now a billionaire with the sale of WhatsApp to Facebook, didn't get hired by Twitter or Facebook in 2009. Now how's that for a happy ending?
Photo: tecnomovida/Flickr
Network Administrator at Vigra Marketing & Services SRL
10yYeah. So this is your economic model that you think is worth considering for any antrepreneur in this world: start a success company and at some point sell it to another (larger) competitor. That's plain disgusting.... You rather should be ashamed for considering this selling a business success.
Strategic Partner - Global Operations at Mutual PR (Alternative Investments)
10yWould love to see LinkedIn and Apple tie up and form a global IVY League Virtual university where the cost of an MBA would be less than 20 K. IVY League education for all, Harvard and other universities could share or sell there content and student debt could be wiped out for future generations...this could further kick start the global economy...Millions of new students would line up online...Millions of faculty would get new and bigger opportunities. Some of the global campuses could turn into resorts or research hubs...1.6 Trillion $ opportunity...... Hope someone sees the vision...
Deepview Co-Founder
10ySorry, but I disagree with your posted Title. If someone (in this case FB) payed US$ 19 billions for Whatsapp, that's how much it worth, period. I think we have to get used to see IT companies as the major ones, just like oil companies were in the mid 20th century.
Business intelligence, Data Analytics
10yI guess this is misleading..you are comparing the enterprise value of a company with annual revenues of other companies...have you considered the present value of future cash flows of , say, Xerox? Have you considered the total value of assets - tangible and intangible? If you go out shopping - do you think you would actually pay just 13 billion for Xerox? I doubt it.