Facebook acquired popular messaging service WhatsApp for $16 billion on Wednesday — resulting in many double takes. At first, some speculated that it was an error in decimal placement. Twitter feeds blew up with the news, followed by cheeky speculation about the value of something so simple.
See also: Why Instagram Was Worth $1 Billion to Facebook
After some of the initial dust settled, many began discussing what that huge sum of money could buy, putting into perspective all the zeroes that will suddenly be added to balance sheets of WhatsApp employees. Mashable took a closer look at the breakdown of $16 billion (it's mre than the nominal GDP of roughly 113 nations, for starters).

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.