WhatsApp versus Safeway. A lesson. Updated

Maximizing the employee productivity

Safeway  supermarket chain was sold for $9.4 billions. They have 180,000 employees.  They have 1,335 stores in the United States and 195 in Mexico with its partnership with Casa Ley

This means the Safeway's selling price is $52,000 or $0.05 million per employee.

WhatsApp was sold to Facebook for $16 billions ($19B everyone reports includes performance bonuses payable later). They had one location and 55 employees

This means the WhatsApp's selling price is $291 millions per employee

WhatsApp made the human beings it hired 5,820 times more productive than the same human beings working as Safeway employees.

This is why Jan Koum and Brian Acton, the WhatsApp co-founders, are now worth an estimated $6.8 billion and $3 billion, respectively. They deserve every cent of it.

And above all, Mark Zuckerberg who created this kind of stimulus on our planet

Note added March 11, 2014

What if a Company Maximized Jobs Over Profits?

This is a title of an article on HBR blog

All over Silicon Valley, venture capitalists are asking entrepreneurs “How scalable is your business model?” What they really mean is, “Can you grow without having to hire people?”

In our digital economy, value creation and job creation don’t always go together.  Consider that Whatsapp just sold for $19 billion with only 55 employees.  It used to be that business growth led to job growth.  But as machines get smarter, labor becomes a reluctant necessity.  Companies only hire as a last resort.

Employment for autistic is a noble cause, that myself promoted with the project New Dandelion, autism employment with no government funding. see http://bit.ly/1e5nvzj

However, the creation of businesses focused on maximum job creation can not subsist and flourish without creating a business model.

A supermarket  is a business model creating jobs rather than very high profits. But do we want our autistic people to work in low labor pay supermarkets as the only option? And do we want to see the supermarket employees having higher pay and job challenges? Whole Foods, Nugget markets, Trader Joes are example of a new kind of supermarkets, and Safeway sale is a sign that this older company did not transform fast enough

My son is learning in Sierra College for mechatronics, using tutors. Without tutors he can not function. He can achieve the skills to join a high tech and take advantage of his extraordinary attention to details

See the The extraordinary laptop repair slides

The job creation can not be artificial. It goes hand in hand with technological advancement, which has plenty of room for autistic skills. See for example how Israeli Army Intelligence Unit uses autistic staff:

The Israeli Satellite Intelligence Unit provides essential information used by the military to execute highly complicated operations. This data is gathered using satellites orbiting Earth, high above the combat arena. In addition to satellites, Unit 9900 uses manned and unmanned aircraft, and advanced sensors.

The autistic young men and women who serve in Unit 9900 can sit for hours  in front of electronic maps spotting the minutest changes, Channel 10 said. This is a rare ability that eludes most non-autistic soldiers.

These are the same skills required to analyze satellite images for traces of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 which today is the subject for an intense search