Facebook has bought the photo-sharing app Instagram Monday, for roughly $1 billion in a combination of cash and stock.
It is very likely that a lot of users that used to love Instagram and hate Facebook will start to close their accounts and will migrate to another photo sharing network and app.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the acquisition in a post on the Facebook Newsroom:
I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.
For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your 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.
We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything 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.
– Mark Zuckerberg
The sale is expected to close later this quarter, and will bring the nine-person staff of Instagram to the social network.
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom echoed said:
We are psyched to be joining Facebook and are excited to build a better Instagram for everyone.
Instagram launched its iOS app in October 2010, and came to Android for the first time last week.
This is the first time Facebook has acquired a company or product with so many users.
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Via Mashable