Facebook to Purchase Instagram for $1 Billion
Facebook announced today its plans to acquire Instagram, a San Francisco-based popular photo-sharing app for the iPhone and Android.
Purchasing the company for an approximate $1 billion USD, paid for in a combination of cash and Facebook shares, Facebook’s entrance into this agreement is subject to closing conditions. The acquisition is expected to close sometime in the first quarter.
“I'm excited to share the news that we've agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook in a statement on his Facebook Timeline.
Zuckerberg explained that this acquisition is a direct result of Facebook’s focus on building the best experiences for photo sharing amongst friends and family.
“Now, we'll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests,” continued Zuckerberg.
Citing that Instagram and Facebook’s different services are expected to complement each other, Zuckerberg explained the need to “be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram's strengths and features” instead of just integrating the service into Facebook.
“That's why we're committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people,” said Zuckerberg.
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A key feature of the app, Facebook plans to keep Instagram’s connection to other services and devices available. Facebook understands that app features such as device connection are important to the overall experience. Zuckerberg explained that this paired with Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure would help the mobile app grow.
“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. We don't plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. 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,” said Zuckerberg. “We're looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we're going to be able to build together.”
