Facebook buying Instagram for $1 Billion
(BDCi) – Facebook has agreed to buy the hugely popular photo-sharing site Instagram for about $1 billion in cash and stock in a blockbuster deal reverberating around Silicon Valley.
“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 interest,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote. “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.”
The deal is expected to close later this quarter. Instagram has been rumored to be close to a new funding round that would have valued the startup at $500 million. It had turned down a previous offer form Facebook.
Former Facebook executive Matt Cohler with Benchmark Capital is a major investor in Instagram.
By: Natania Levine Courtesy: ktla.com Photo: ktla.com 9 April 2012
11:34 a.m P.D.T