Facebook buys instagram for 1billion dollars

jimmynokia

So facebook has bought instagram
What do you think?
Anybody here use it,blurry photos?
Whats down the road for facebook users....

Facebook has announced it is to buy Instagram - the popular photo-sharing smartphone app.

Facebook is paying $1bn (£629m) in cash and stock for the takeover.

Instagram was only launched in October 2010 - initially just for the iPhone before being offered as an Android app last week.

Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to continue to develop Instagram as a separate brand, allowing it to post to rival networks.

The app is free and allows users to apply 17 filters to the pictures they take - changing the colour balance to give the images a different feel - before they are uploaded.

It has proven hugely popular. The firm says that it has more than 30 million users uploading more than 5 million new pictures every day.

The company has "roughly" 10 employees, according to the Associated Press.

'Important milestone'
"We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience," Mr Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page.

"We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook."

He added: "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."

Instagram's FAQ says it had previously raised $7.5m in funding from three venture capital firms and "a small group of angel investors".

When it launched on Google's Android platform last Tuesday, more than one million people downloaded it within 24 hours.

Mr Zuckerberg's post says Instagram's employees will be joining Facebook when the deal is completed.

The deal marks the second time in four months that Facebook has taken on staff from another social network.

In December, it announced it was hiring the co-founders of the location-based check-in service Gowalla. The network closed down shortly afterwards.

The moves come ahead of Facebook's planned flotation later this year. The firm reportedly plans to issue $5bn worth of stock on the New York-based Nasdaq exchange in May or June. The deal could value the firm as being worth as much as $100bn

JTMan

Great app and great mobile social network but completely overvalued price.

GreenWolfe

They knew when to sell before going bust imo. Other than venture capital, did these guys have any way of making money?

EarthlyPangaea

EarthlyPangaea wrote: »

They knew when to sell before going bust imo. Other than venture capital, did these guys have any way of making money?

who the hell knows! It seems that you once you can create a large and growing user-base from user-generated content that you're onto a winner.

I think that Facebook saw these guys as a competitor more than anything. Mobile space is becoming more and more important and Instagram had gone from 0 to 30 million users in less than 2 years - and that was just on iPhone.

It could have impacted the Facebook IPO more than 1 billion so maybe not that silly.....

Francie Barrett

All I can say is, wow.

I am starting an internet company, it will be just like 2000 all over again....

JaMarcus Hustle

Idiots.

Could have downloaded it for free off the App store.

bnt

Some users are not happy and have created a tool to help you get all your photos off: InstaPort. (I don't use Instagram myself.)

Tea_Bag

Some hipster became a billionaire you say?

there is no God.

CantGetNoSleep

Viber next?

You can see the pattern - growing user base, no way of making money, etc...

coylemj

This is a classic case of pre-IPO horizontal integration, done to clothe the parent company with as much complementary technology as possible - dressing up the bride if you will.

It happened here (on a much smaller scale obviously) when Telecom Eireann went completely loco buying up small technology companies for stupid money prior to the first IPO.