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The Founder Of A Multi-Billion-Dollar Startup Felt 'Depressed' When He Learned Of WhatsApp's $19 Billion Acquisition

The Founder Of A Multi-Billion-Dollar Startup Felt 'Depressed' When He Learned Of WhatsApp's $19 Billion Acquisition
Tech1 min read

Aaron Levie shoes socks sneakers colorful

JDLasica via Flickr

Aaron Levie's trademark colorful shoes and socks.

Silicon Valley was throughly impressed and shaken when news broke about Facebook's $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp.

Even entrepreneurs who have been given high, multi-billion-dollar valuations, felt pangs of jealousy and disbelief.

Aaron Levie is a 20-something who runs a $2 billion storage company, Box. Box is expected to go public soon.

Levie told WSJ's Evelyn Rusli how he reacted when he heard the news. A friend texted him, "WhatsApp, $19 Billion, Facebook."

'I don't know what those three things mean to each other, but there's no way that this means that Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion'," he told Rusli of his reaction. "It makes you depressed if you're not selling at $20 billion...I have a lot more work to do."

Here's how Levie reacted on Twitter after he learned of the acquisition: "Must. Start. Messaging. App."

aaron levie

Twitter via @levie

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