There is indeed a diff in europe. But having said that, I would like to argue a few things. a) Anyone would want to get a billion dollars. b) How many billion dollars startups do you actually know? Not in the money given to acquire them. But in the actual value. In the "wtf, they gave how much for what?!" category.
I am going off in a tangent, but I think an important and relevant one. $ is the world currency. It's backed by the us military. You print billions out of thin air, faster than I actually breath.
In my, maybe naive eyes, billions for bs web or mobile services, among other things, translates to me to: "Holly f*. There is so much inflation coming my way, from all that printing, it's not even funny. I am a couple of years, tops, away from being forcefully transformed from "financially ok", to "fubar-ed, can you give me 500$ to get a piece of bread, pls?"
It's easier to be "large", when you are the empire, print billions out of thin air, and "bring democracy" to the rest.
How many billions was the "let's make a language called 'C'" startup? ..I read billions for bs, and I see inflation and destruction. ..Maybe it's just me.