Facebook acquires Instagram for $1 billion

[saintforlife]

Facebook has agreed to buy photo sharing network Instagram for $1 billion in a combination of cash and stock, the company announced Monday.

It's Facebook's biggest acquisition ever, in both price and reach. With around 30 million active users, Instagram has the largest audience of any startup Facebook has purchased, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post.

"We don't plan on doing many more of these, if any at all," Zuckerberg wrote. "But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together."

Founded in 2010 by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, Instagram has just a handful of employees supporting its wildly popular photo app, which lets users add distinctive filters and visual flair to photos they've snapped on their smartphones.

The long-awaited Android version, released last week, racked up more than 1 million downloads in just 12 hours. The launch also met a backlash from iPhone users, who enjoyed having an exclusive hold on the stylish service.

Facebook likes to scoop up hot startups, kill their products, and redeploy their staff on other projects. That's definitely not the plan for Instagram, all the players insist.

"It's important to be clear that Instagram is not going away," Instagram's founders wrote on their company blog. "We'll continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience."

Facebook acquires Instagram for $1 billion - Apr. 9, 2012

 

[havox22]

Add me on instagram : havox22

 

[thed]

Wow, that is absolutely insane. Dot Com Bubble 2.0?

 

[saintforlife]

Wonder why he had to pay a billion dollars for it when he could have just download the app for free from the App store

 

[FriendOrDafoe]

Now MS just needs to buy Facebook.