Facebook just bought popular photo-sharing application Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock.
“I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook”,Mark Zuckerberg,Facebook founder said.
“This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users,” Zuckerberg said in the post.
Instagram has 30 million users. And, Apple picked it as the iPhone App of the Year in 2011.
Celebrities including Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian have accounts. U.S President Barack Obama signed up in January.
The app allows people to share photos taken with their mobiles with friends on its own site and Facebook, Twitter or via text. Photographers can use a variety of filters to alter the look of their pics, with names like Lo-fi, Earlybird or Nashville giving their images a vintage, old world feel. Users can then vote on pictures and add comments.
The acquisition came before Instagram began generating any significant revenue. While it planned to eventually include some form of advertising inside the app, the company had yet to implement any.
Normally Facebook used to kill the products of any startup after acquiring the start-up and re-deploy the staff in other facebook project.
But this time Mark Zuckerberg informed that Facebook is going to keep the Instagram independently.
Instagram was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who met in graduate school at Stanford and went into business together.
Instagram raised a $500,000 seed round from Andreessen-Horowitz and Baseline Ventures, and a $7 million Series A from Benchmark Capital and a small group of angel investors.
The Instagram has been slow to build its team, and only has about 13 employees working in a South Park office.
