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?