Instagram was financially a steal for FB, in retrospect. And no, you can't just say "they paid this much for download, that is dumb". There is a lot of nuance,

Instagram was financially a steal for FB, in retrospect. And no, you can't just say "they paid this much for download, that is dumb". There is a lot of nuance, for example: - Does the company need it to survive or succeed? - Can the acquiring company better monetize or grow the asset? - Are the growth trends exponential, such that a huge amount of other people may soon be using the product? - Is there some strategic advantage to the team - or product category expertise? - Is the product easily defensible? (e.g., strong network effects) I can't speak to this particular acquisition, but there are a number of examples where heavily "overpaying" may actually be a steal in the long term (and of course, the opposite).