7 ms·

Instagram is acquired by Facebook

293 points by lewispb 15y ago

peacemaker 15y ago
Well done to the guys at Instagram, they've accomplished a lot in 2 years I think.
- lewispb 15y ago
  Absolutely. It'll be interesting to see how Facebook take Instagram forward, and how features from Instagram will make there way into Facebook's photo product.
cantbecool 15y ago
The big question is for how much?
- peacemaker 15y ago
  One billion dollars. Seriously.
  - j2labs 15y ago
    Got evidence?
    - _pius 15y ago
      Yes. http://newsroom.fb.com/Announcements/Facebook-to-Acquire-Instagram-141.aspx http://newsroom.fb.com/Announcements/Facebook-to-Acquire-Ins...
      - edwinnathaniel 15y ago
        Kind of odd to see a Facebook property running ASP.NET :D
  - lawnchair_larry 15y ago
    I don't want to live on this planet anymore
    - jasonshen 15y ago
      Because some people who are in the right place and at the right time and who work extremely hard and make smart moves can become inordinately wealthy? This makes life not worth living for you? Don't forget that to the 2 billion people who live on about dollar a day, your material life is paradise and your wealth equally as appalling.
      - jasongullickson 15y ago
        Larry didn't say he didn't want to live anymore, just not on this planet.
    - narrator 15y ago
      Ha... Want to get more depressed? Alexa reports that Instagram is ranked as the 6,534th most popular site on the Internet. Compete.com said it had 331,529 users last month. Seriously, what the heck? What kind of reality distortion field did they have to come up with to convince the Facebook guys that this was worth $1 billion dollars?
      - waterlesscloud 15y ago
        What's Zynga.com ranked at?
        narrator 15y ago
        740
      - therealarmen 15y ago
        How is that a relevant statistic? I bet most Instagram users have never even visited the website.
gfosco 15y ago
F*ck Facebook... evil corporation of evil. Harbinger of a world without privacy, it dooms us all.
- astrodust 15y ago
  Although I agree, this goes without saying.
cnbeuiwx 15y ago
Oh crap.... Facebook got their dirty hands on this one. :(
huhtenberg 15y ago
Sound of a good app flushing down the toilet Uninstalled. Congrats to founders though, well executed, guys.
- astrodust 15y ago
  It was a good ride. What's the next Instagram? Is there an alternative?
  - juliano_q 15y ago
    Lightbox seems to be gaining some traction, and it has a web interface too. I am considering it.
  - callmeed 15y ago
    Camera Awesome from SmugMug is pretty good. There are some things I don't like but they have traction and a solid reputation as a company that will remain independent and VC-free.
- JackWebbHeller 15y ago
  Why? Just on principal that as soon as a big company buys a little company, the product will inevitably get worse? Nothing has changed for the end user yet, has it?
  - huhtenberg 15y ago
    Personally, I wouldn't touch anything Facebook with a long pole.
  - Bud 15y ago
    Yes. The instant Facebook bought them, user trust went out the window. There is active, intense, well-founded mistrust by users regarding Facebook's ability or desire to protect user privacy in any way. Indeed, anyone paying attention can see that Facebook actively and systematically attacks user privacy. Instagram just became part of that. So yes, something has changed.
juliano_q 15y ago
After only one week using Instagram for Android it was already my favorite network. Congrats for the Instagram team, but I cant deny that I just lost much of my sympathy for the network, since I can´t stand the way that Facebook handles privacy anymore.
asselinpaul 15y ago
If photo filters are worth this much, I'm in the wrong business.
- dasil003 15y ago
  30,000,000 people using anything has got to be worth at least 9 figures.
  - tghw 15y ago
    $33 per user? That's optimistic.
    - malandrew 15y ago
      $33 per user could make sense if this was a defensive acquisition as other HNers have suggested. If G+ bought Instagram and it made enough of a difference in G+ activity to make G+ competitive with Facebook, I could see how it could knock $1 billion or more off Facebook's IPO price. Remember, it's 30 million of the more active social network users. These are the same type of core users that Facebook had back in its early days that helped attract the other 750 million users it has.
      - optymizer 15y ago
        My app has 7 users. Can I haz $200?
        dvdhsu 15y ago
        Is Google likely to acquire you? If they do, is it likely the acquisition will lower Facebook's IPO price?
  - karanbhangui 15y ago
    Honest question about this: my buddy and I have a Facebook app with 21M registered users, with about 10% of that being monthly active. How would we compare?
homosaur 15y ago
Can someone please tell me how Instagram's actual content is worth anything? We're talking about photo-filtered cell phone camera shots here. Facebook doesn't need a user acquisition ploy. I guess maybe it's a move to keep users in Facebook, but I'd be willing to bet a million bucks that almost everyone is discovering Instagram content via Facebook or Twitter. Seems like mostly a huge waste of cash.
- loverobots 15y ago
  They're buying a competitor (Yahoo and Excite had a change to buy a tiny Google) so why take the chance? And they're buying part of it with stock. It just doesn't feel like it's real money so FB doesn't see it as a $1 Billion. Lastly, Google doesn't buy it and add lots of activity to G+ almost immediately.
  - homosaur 15y ago
    I didn't think about the G+ aspect, you're probably on the right track there.
- juliano_q 15y ago
  IMO Instagram had a huge potential to be the next big social network. I think Mark noticed it too and bought before it became too big.
  - homosaur 15y ago
    You might be right that was their thinking, but it's a long trek from photo sharing to ubiquitous social network.
    - furyofantares 15y ago
      Photo sharing is something that everyone is trying desperately to solve. When I open the G+ app on my iPhone it wants to upload all the new photos it can find on the phone. I would imagine the Facebook app does the same thing, but I don't know. The OS has cloud storage for photos baked in. When I plug the phone into my computer, Dropbox wants to automatically find and upload the photos. Everyone is trying to get into this, and for good reason, I think. My family is filled with people that always have access to a camera and to the internet via their phone. We're spread out geographically and don't get to see each other very often. There is a HUGE opportunity to bring us closer together that would be greatly valuable to us. I would love it if part of our daily routine included looking at all of the photos anyone in the family has taken in the last day. There are lots of solutions for us to do this, but for whatever reason, nothing has taken hold. Maybe everything is too manual, or maybe social networks are still focused too much on the browser and not enough on mobile. But for whatever reason, it's not happening for us. I suspect we are not alone and I think the explosion of people trying to get me to buy into putting my photos on their free service is indicative of this.
bbayer 15y ago
I think it is ridiculous. No need for user base, no need for technology. Even no serious business model. Anything I missed?
nextparadigms 15y ago
For those of you that are looking for alternatives now: http://lifehacker.com/5899690/dont-bother-with-instagram-here-are-five-better-alternatives-for-android http://lifehacker.com/5899690/dont-bother-with-instagram-her...
ja27 15y ago
I know they're saying they won't do another acquisition like this, but why not Pinterest too? It would make more sense to me than Instagram. http://www.privco.com/research/top-5-reasons-facebook-should-acquire-pinterest-and-quickly http://www.privco.com/research/top-5-reasons-facebook-should...
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
chbrown 15y ago
The front page of HN is a brilliant example of why you should use the active voice when the passive is unnecessary. 403 points (active) vs. 150 points (passive). Great A&B testing, guys.
- lewispb 15y ago
  No worries ;) To be fair the facebook announcement was posted 10 minutes prior to the instagram.com post and so generated discussion quicker.
azarias 15y ago
Congrats guys. This is really exciting stuff!
- azarias 15y ago
  The last exciting acquisition I remember is Mint. One of those "must work hard" events.
korenidan87 15y ago
deja mi's app is probably better anyways. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deja-mi/id447681380?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deja-mi/id447681380?mt=8 Everyone seems to be uninstalling instagram and going to deja mi in protest!
mahoneyta 15y ago
Just get deja mi instead, way better app anyways!
mendable 15y ago
This Wired article[1] states that the first co-founder owned 40% of the company and the second co-founder owned 10% of the company at the time of acquisition. This might suggest they started out with an 80/20 split. Why? How did that split come about? [1] http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/facebook-buys-instagram/ http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/facebook-buys-instagr...
- speedracr 15y ago
  Kevin Systrom went all in at an earlier point. Discussed in more detail by the two of them here: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2745 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2745 (video)
Rev55 15y ago
I wonder if Instagram has any patents that can be used in Facebook's patent war with Yahoo. As a mobile social network, Instagram has no equal in the photo category. It would be foolish to think that after a year and half a tech company with vc backing would not have at least 5 solid patents that could be used for defensive purposes. Even if Instagram has patents that would in some way affect any yahoo holdings (specifically flickr), I don't see a $1 Billion value.
- jwegan 14y ago
  They have only been around for 2 years so they certainly have not been granted any patents. It is very unlikely they have even filed for any patents. Most startups will only file patents in their first few years if patents are a critical part of defending their business. Patents take a lot of time & money with very little payoff (they mainly protect you from being sued). It is not a good investment of a startups resources to be filing patents unless the patents are critical to the success of the business.
bbit 15y ago
If instagram was a threat to Facebook why didn't google snatch them up? Oh that's because they aren't .... I have no idea how instagram I worth a billion dollars I've never used it and alot of peeps I know don't... If you think about there hasn't been any real innovation since 2007 and do I date say it that was twitter... What has come out sense then that makes you go wow? Nothing... Technology is dead ...
daimyoyo 15y ago
Does anyone know if Instagram will require facebook credentials to log in now? One major reason I have enjoyed Instagram is that it's a separate network away from facebook etc.
gcb 15y ago
And now google will notice that it needs decent photo integration on plus and do more innovation there than instagram ever dreamed. or it will stagnate everything in the market like youtube did to video (and is slowly trying to repair recently).

293 points by lewispb 15y ago

peacemaker 15y ago

Well done to the guys at Instagram, they've accomplished a lot in 2 years I think.

lewispb 15y ago
Absolutely. It'll be interesting to see how Facebook take Instagram forward, and how features from Instagram will make there way into Facebook's photo product.

cantbecool 15y ago

The big question is for how much?

peacemaker 15y ago
One billion dollars. Seriously.
- j2labs 15y ago
  Got evidence?
  - _pius 15y ago
    Yes. http://newsroom.fb.com/Announcements/Facebook-to-Acquire-Instagram-141.aspx http://newsroom.fb.com/Announcements/Facebook-to-Acquire-Ins...
    - edwinnathaniel 15y ago
      Kind of odd to see a Facebook property running ASP.NET :D
- lawnchair_larry 15y ago
  I don't want to live on this planet anymore
  - jasonshen 15y ago
    Because some people who are in the right place and at the right time and who work extremely hard and make smart moves can become inordinately wealthy? This makes life not worth living for you? Don't forget that to the 2 billion people who live on about dollar a day, your material life is paradise and your wealth equally as appalling.
    - jasongullickson 15y ago
      Larry didn't say he didn't want to live anymore, just not on this planet.
  - narrator 15y ago
    Ha... Want to get more depressed? Alexa reports that Instagram is ranked as the 6,534th most popular site on the Internet. Compete.com said it had 331,529 users last month. Seriously, what the heck? What kind of reality distortion field did they have to come up with to convince the Facebook guys that this was worth $1 billion dollars?
    - waterlesscloud 15y ago
      What's Zynga.com ranked at?
      - narrator 15y ago
        740
    - therealarmen 15y ago
      How is that a relevant statistic? I bet most Instagram users have never even visited the website.

gfosco 15y ago

F*ck Facebook... evil corporation of evil. Harbinger of a world without privacy, it dooms us all.

astrodust 15y ago
Although I agree, this goes without saying.

cnbeuiwx 15y ago

Oh crap.... Facebook got their dirty hands on this one. :(

huhtenberg 15y ago

Sound of a good app flushing down the toilet Uninstalled. Congrats to founders though, well executed, guys.

astrodust 15y ago
It was a good ride. What's the next Instagram? Is there an alternative?
- juliano_q 15y ago
  Lightbox seems to be gaining some traction, and it has a web interface too. I am considering it.
- callmeed 15y ago
  Camera Awesome from SmugMug is pretty good. There are some things I don't like but they have traction and a solid reputation as a company that will remain independent and VC-free.
JackWebbHeller 15y ago
Why? Just on principal that as soon as a big company buys a little company, the product will inevitably get worse? Nothing has changed for the end user yet, has it?
- huhtenberg 15y ago
  Personally, I wouldn't touch anything Facebook with a long pole.
- Bud 15y ago
  Yes. The instant Facebook bought them, user trust went out the window. There is active, intense, well-founded mistrust by users regarding Facebook's ability or desire to protect user privacy in any way. Indeed, anyone paying attention can see that Facebook actively and systematically attacks user privacy. Instagram just became part of that. So yes, something has changed.

juliano_q 15y ago

After only one week using Instagram for Android it was already my favorite network. Congrats for the Instagram team, but I cant deny that I just lost much of my sympathy for the network, since I can´t stand the way that Facebook handles privacy anymore.

asselinpaul 15y ago

If photo filters are worth this much, I'm in the wrong business.

dasil003 15y ago
30,000,000 people using anything has got to be worth at least 9 figures.
- tghw 15y ago
  $33 per user? That's optimistic.
  - malandrew 15y ago
    $33 per user could make sense if this was a defensive acquisition as other HNers have suggested. If G+ bought Instagram and it made enough of a difference in G+ activity to make G+ competitive with Facebook, I could see how it could knock $1 billion or more off Facebook's IPO price. Remember, it's 30 million of the more active social network users. These are the same type of core users that Facebook had back in its early days that helped attract the other 750 million users it has.
    - optymizer 15y ago
      My app has 7 users. Can I haz $200?
      - dvdhsu 15y ago
        Is Google likely to acquire you? If they do, is it likely the acquisition will lower Facebook's IPO price?
- karanbhangui 15y ago
  Honest question about this: my buddy and I have a Facebook app with 21M registered users, with about 10% of that being monthly active. How would we compare?

homosaur 15y ago

Can someone please tell me how Instagram's actual content is worth anything? We're talking about photo-filtered cell phone camera shots here. Facebook doesn't need a user acquisition ploy. I guess maybe it's a move to keep users in Facebook, but I'd be willing to bet a million bucks that almost everyone is discovering Instagram content via Facebook or Twitter. Seems like mostly a huge waste of cash.

loverobots 15y ago
They're buying a competitor (Yahoo and Excite had a change to buy a tiny Google) so why take the chance? And they're buying part of it with stock. It just doesn't feel like it's real money so FB doesn't see it as a $1 Billion. Lastly, Google doesn't buy it and add lots of activity to G+ almost immediately.
- homosaur 15y ago
  I didn't think about the G+ aspect, you're probably on the right track there.
juliano_q 15y ago
IMO Instagram had a huge potential to be the next big social network. I think Mark noticed it too and bought before it became too big.
- homosaur 15y ago
  You might be right that was their thinking, but it's a long trek from photo sharing to ubiquitous social network.
  - furyofantares 15y ago
    Photo sharing is something that everyone is trying desperately to solve. When I open the G+ app on my iPhone it wants to upload all the new photos it can find on the phone. I would imagine the Facebook app does the same thing, but I don't know. The OS has cloud storage for photos baked in. When I plug the phone into my computer, Dropbox wants to automatically find and upload the photos. Everyone is trying to get into this, and for good reason, I think. My family is filled with people that always have access to a camera and to the internet via their phone. We're spread out geographically and don't get to see each other very often. There is a HUGE opportunity to bring us closer together that would be greatly valuable to us. I would love it if part of our daily routine included looking at all of the photos anyone in the family has taken in the last day. There are lots of solutions for us to do this, but for whatever reason, nothing has taken hold. Maybe everything is too manual, or maybe social networks are still focused too much on the browser and not enough on mobile. But for whatever reason, it's not happening for us. I suspect we are not alone and I think the explosion of people trying to get me to buy into putting my photos on their free service is indicative of this.

bbayer 15y ago

I think it is ridiculous. No need for user base, no need for technology. Even no serious business model. Anything I missed?

nextparadigms 15y ago

For those of you that are looking for alternatives now: http://lifehacker.com/5899690/dont-bother-with-instagram-here-are-five-better-alternatives-for-android http://lifehacker.com/5899690/dont-bother-with-instagram-her...

ja27 15y ago

I know they're saying they won't do another acquisition like this, but why not Pinterest too? It would make more sense to me than Instagram. http://www.privco.com/research/top-5-reasons-facebook-should-acquire-pinterest-and-quickly http://www.privco.com/research/top-5-reasons-facebook-should...

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

chbrown 15y ago

The front page of HN is a brilliant example of why you should use the active voice when the passive is unnecessary. 403 points (active) vs. 150 points (passive). Great A&B testing, guys.

lewispb 15y ago
No worries ;) To be fair the facebook announcement was posted 10 minutes prior to the instagram.com post and so generated discussion quicker.

azarias 15y ago

Congrats guys. This is really exciting stuff!

azarias 15y ago
The last exciting acquisition I remember is Mint. One of those "must work hard" events.

korenidan87 15y ago

deja mi's app is probably better anyways. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deja-mi/id447681380?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/deja-mi/id447681380?mt=8 Everyone seems to be uninstalling instagram and going to deja mi in protest!

mahoneyta 15y ago

Just get deja mi instead, way better app anyways!

mendable 15y ago

This Wired article[1] states that the first co-founder owned 40% of the company and the second co-founder owned 10% of the company at the time of acquisition. This might suggest they started out with an 80/20 split. Why? How did that split come about? [1] http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/facebook-buys-instagram/ http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/facebook-buys-instagr...

speedracr 15y ago
Kevin Systrom went all in at an earlier point. Discussed in more detail by the two of them here: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2745 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2745 (video)

Rev55 15y ago

I wonder if Instagram has any patents that can be used in Facebook's patent war with Yahoo. As a mobile social network, Instagram has no equal in the photo category. It would be foolish to think that after a year and half a tech company with vc backing would not have at least 5 solid patents that could be used for defensive purposes. Even if Instagram has patents that would in some way affect any yahoo holdings (specifically flickr), I don't see a $1 Billion value.

jwegan 14y ago
They have only been around for 2 years so they certainly have not been granted any patents. It is very unlikely they have even filed for any patents. Most startups will only file patents in their first few years if patents are a critical part of defending their business. Patents take a lot of time & money with very little payoff (they mainly protect you from being sued). It is not a good investment of a startups resources to be filing patents unless the patents are critical to the success of the business.

bbit 15y ago

If instagram was a threat to Facebook why didn't google snatch them up? Oh that's because they aren't .... I have no idea how instagram I worth a billion dollars I've never used it and alot of peeps I know don't... If you think about there hasn't been any real innovation since 2007 and do I date say it that was twitter... What has come out sense then that makes you go wow? Nothing... Technology is dead ...

daimyoyo 15y ago

Does anyone know if Instagram will require facebook credentials to log in now? One major reason I have enjoyed Instagram is that it's a separate network away from facebook etc.

gcb 15y ago

And now google will notice that it needs decent photo integration on plus and do more innovation there than instagram ever dreamed. or it will stagnate everything in the market like youtube did to video (and is slowly trying to repair recently).