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If it was some insignificant photo sharing app with 13 employees why did they pay a billion dollars for it? Everyone knew when the sale closed exactly what they

If it was some insignificant photo sharing app with 13 employees why did they pay a billion dollars for it? Everyone knew when the sale closed exactly what they were doing.

lbrandy 2y ago
It's fun to see everyone arguing about what "everyone" thought.. when... we can just... look... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840 is a fun thread from 2012. The top reply to the top comment has some useful quotes for the purposes of this discussion... > This is not going to be one of the best tech acquisitions of the next decade. > Instagram is a photo service in a sea of other photo services. > Bookmark this comment. See you in 2022. Heh.
- Larrikin 2y ago
  The top comment compares it to YouTube.
  - spease 2y ago
    Back then Google was trying to be social. Remember Google+? https://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1523.html https://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1523.html
    - waste_monk 2y ago
      > Remember Google+? How about Google People? [1] [1] https://qntm.org/perso https://qntm.org/perso
      - davedigerati 2y ago
        how about Google Buzz? https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/introducing-google-buzz.html?m=1 https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/introducing-google-b...
        DrFalkyn 2y ago
        How about Google Wave ? https://support.google.com/answer/1083134?hl=en https://support.google.com/answer/1083134?hl=en
        mgiampapa 2y ago
        How about Google Orkut? https://support.google.com/orkut/?hl=en https://support.google.com/orkut/?hl=en
- threatofrain 2y ago
  Those people aren't putting in their own money. The people who did put their money into Instagram got to see behind the corporate covers, and they decided to buy anyway. It's very easy to say whether you'd invest $1B if you're not putting in any of your money.
- MichaelDickens 2y ago
  I think you are being selective. I looked at the top 10 top-level comments and by my judgment: 1. bullish 2. bullish 3. neutral 4. neutral 5. neutral 6. neutral 7. bullish 8. bearish 9. bearish 10. neutral Of the top top-level comments, you have to go all the way to #8 to find a bearish comment. Replies to the top comment are more bearish because they're directly responding to a bullish sentiment.
  - TimPC 2y ago
    On the other hand the top ten comments as a whole are 3 bullish, 5 neutral, 2 bearish which is certainly not an overwhelming sentiment in any direction. That's despite the fact that bullish comments on start-ups tend to get more votes because it's a start-up community.
  - Aunche 2y ago
    Sure, plenty of people thought that it was a good purchase, but my point is nobody thought of it as buying out their competition. The transition into a social media platform and algorithmic content machine occurred under Facebook's direction.
- Finbel 2y ago
  > "Where's the money in Instagram?" Preventing Instagram from developing into something that has a negative effect on Facebook. It's a "keep your enemies closer" move. - Larrys 2012
- pjc50 2y ago
  HN is notorious for this kind of thing, such as the iPod: "less space than a nomad, no wireless, lame". Due to not understanding how much consumers value simplicity.
  - Cthulhu_ 2y ago
    It's a recurring cognitive dissonance between cynical tech people and the actual mass market. I mean I'm cynical about most things but the ones that aren't and who get onto the hype train earn big money off of it.
  - latexr 2y ago
    Every time I see a comment accusing HN of having some specific consensual position like a hive mind, I go back and see comments both contradicting and supporting the stance. In other words, different opinions. Every single time I check, and every single time it shows the original commenter engaged in selection bias. This case is particularly wrong, as that iPod quote is from Slashdot. HN didn’t even exist in 2001. https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...
    - lesuorac 2y ago
      But hindsight of HN is different from hindsight of FaceBook. FaceBook was literally collecting data on what apps people were using on their phones and empirically saw the rise of Instagram. Of course the rise of Instagram didn't need to continue but that's why you buy all the realistic competitors so even if most of them fail you have a moat of dead companies.
  - mongol 2y ago
    To be fair, the iPod comment was on Slashdot
  - TimPC 2y ago
    After trying to set up wireless on my printer interface and enter a password with up and down arrows rotating through an entire set of keys, I'm fairly convinced that no wireless on the iPod was massively correct. If people were expected to set up wifi by entering a password with a rotation device adoption would be miniscule.
- isaacremuant 2y ago
  You took "everyone" literally but it's actually like "a lot/majority held the opinion/it was easy to see". The top comment compares it to YouTube as a great acquisition.
robertlagrant 2y ago
> If it was some insignificant photo sharing app with 13 employees why did they pay a billion dollars for it? Everyone knew when the sale closed exactly what they were doing. If everyone knew, why was the purchase allowed?
mnky9800n 2y ago
HP bought palm for 1.2 billion dollars and then did nothing with it. Why is doing something anti competitive but doing nothing not? I’m sure there are other examples than the hp/palm situation.
- no_wizard 2y ago
  >HP bought palm for 1.2 billion dollars and then did nothing with it. Why is doing something anti competitive but doing nothing not? Not sure anyone thinks thats true at all.

If it was some insignificant photo sharing app with 13 employees why did they pay a billion dollars for it? Everyone knew when the sale closed exactly what they were doing.

lbrandy 2y ago

It's fun to see everyone arguing about what "everyone" thought.. when... we can just... look... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3817840 is a fun thread from 2012. The top reply to the top comment has some useful quotes for the purposes of this discussion... > This is not going to be one of the best tech acquisitions of the next decade. > Instagram is a photo service in a sea of other photo services. > Bookmark this comment. See you in 2022. Heh.

Larrikin 2y ago
The top comment compares it to YouTube.
- spease 2y ago
  Back then Google was trying to be social. Remember Google+? https://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1523.html https://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1523.html
  - waste_monk 2y ago
    > Remember Google+? How about Google People? [1] [1] https://qntm.org/perso https://qntm.org/perso
    - davedigerati 2y ago
      how about Google Buzz? https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/introducing-google-buzz.html?m=1 https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/introducing-google-b...
      - DrFalkyn 2y ago
        How about Google Wave ? https://support.google.com/answer/1083134?hl=en https://support.google.com/answer/1083134?hl=en
        mgiampapa 2y ago
        How about Google Orkut? https://support.google.com/orkut/?hl=en https://support.google.com/orkut/?hl=en
threatofrain 2y ago
Those people aren't putting in their own money. The people who did put their money into Instagram got to see behind the corporate covers, and they decided to buy anyway. It's very easy to say whether you'd invest $1B if you're not putting in any of your money.
MichaelDickens 2y ago
I think you are being selective. I looked at the top 10 top-level comments and by my judgment: 1. bullish 2. bullish 3. neutral 4. neutral 5. neutral 6. neutral 7. bullish 8. bearish 9. bearish 10. neutral Of the top top-level comments, you have to go all the way to #8 to find a bearish comment. Replies to the top comment are more bearish because they're directly responding to a bullish sentiment.
- TimPC 2y ago
  On the other hand the top ten comments as a whole are 3 bullish, 5 neutral, 2 bearish which is certainly not an overwhelming sentiment in any direction. That's despite the fact that bullish comments on start-ups tend to get more votes because it's a start-up community.
- Aunche 2y ago
  Sure, plenty of people thought that it was a good purchase, but my point is nobody thought of it as buying out their competition. The transition into a social media platform and algorithmic content machine occurred under Facebook's direction.
Finbel 2y ago
> "Where's the money in Instagram?" Preventing Instagram from developing into something that has a negative effect on Facebook. It's a "keep your enemies closer" move. - Larrys 2012
pjc50 2y ago
HN is notorious for this kind of thing, such as the iPod: "less space than a nomad, no wireless, lame". Due to not understanding how much consumers value simplicity.
- Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  It's a recurring cognitive dissonance between cynical tech people and the actual mass market. I mean I'm cynical about most things but the ones that aren't and who get onto the hype train earn big money off of it.
- latexr 2y ago
  Every time I see a comment accusing HN of having some specific consensual position like a hive mind, I go back and see comments both contradicting and supporting the stance. In other words, different opinions. Every single time I check, and every single time it shows the original commenter engaged in selection bias. This case is particularly wrong, as that iPod quote is from Slashdot. HN didn’t even exist in 2001. https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...
  - lesuorac 2y ago
    But hindsight of HN is different from hindsight of FaceBook. FaceBook was literally collecting data on what apps people were using on their phones and empirically saw the rise of Instagram. Of course the rise of Instagram didn't need to continue but that's why you buy all the realistic competitors so even if most of them fail you have a moat of dead companies.
- mongol 2y ago
  To be fair, the iPod comment was on Slashdot
- TimPC 2y ago
  After trying to set up wireless on my printer interface and enter a password with up and down arrows rotating through an entire set of keys, I'm fairly convinced that no wireless on the iPod was massively correct. If people were expected to set up wifi by entering a password with a rotation device adoption would be miniscule.
isaacremuant 2y ago
You took "everyone" literally but it's actually like "a lot/majority held the opinion/it was easy to see". The top comment compares it to YouTube as a great acquisition.

robertlagrant 2y ago

> If it was some insignificant photo sharing app with 13 employees why did they pay a billion dollars for it? Everyone knew when the sale closed exactly what they were doing. If everyone knew, why was the purchase allowed?

mnky9800n 2y ago

HP bought palm for 1.2 billion dollars and then did nothing with it. Why is doing something anti competitive but doing nothing not? I’m sure there are other examples than the hp/palm situation.

no_wizard 2y ago
>HP bought palm for 1.2 billion dollars and then did nothing with it. Why is doing something anti competitive but doing nothing not? Not sure anyone thinks thats true at all.