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Facebook acquires Instagram

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Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#61

Post by brackin »

cmer wrote: post #17

According to Crunchbase and Techcrunch, they raised $40M just a month ago at a $500M valuation. Something doesn't add up here. A billion dollar deal like this had to take more than a couple of weeks to close... http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/08/no-filter-required-instagra...

It was announced then, could have been raised in 2011 or earlier this year.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#62

Post by inmygarage »

This is very reminiscent of Google/YouTube circa 2006. When Google bought YT it was a small team of people and a pretty nascent product that people really loved, and the usage numbers were out of control. They left the product mostly untouched and let it grow on its own. Though there was major criticism at the time, it is one of the best tech acquisitions of the past decade.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#63

Post by 2pasc »

wavephorm wrote: post #48

That's an awful lot of money for a business that had no revenue and had no business model of any kind. http://windonaleaf.net/post/20464525754/instagram-perform-ad...

I agree...but the point was not about the revenues, the point was about making sure that when you think about photos - to share or to browse(which is the most used app on Facebook), you think about Facebook. The risk of being displaced by Instagram on that crucial activity was too high for Facebook.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#65

Post by [deleted] »

fredsters_s wrote: post #43
j_baker wrote: post #28

I have to say: it's nice to see an acquisition where the product is valued enough to not be summarily taken out back and shot. I'm curious how it fits into Facebook's product strategy though. It doesn't seem to be their style to keep a brand around that doesn't help their main brand somehow.

wait - you think this is actually true?

[deleted]

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#66

Post by donw »

statictype wrote: post #16

How many photo-related startups has Facebook acquired now? And what do they gain from Instagram? A user base? Most of them are probably already on Facebook? Technology for handling photos? Doesn't Facebook already do this as well as anyone else? Design and UI talent for mobile apps? Don't they already have Mike Matas?

I've got two guesses:

First, it integrates an incredibly popular mobile destination into the Facebook ecosystem.

A lot of people have been using Instagram as a replacement for their built-in smartphone camera software. You don't even need to go on Facebook to post those photos, thanks to the Instagram Facebook app.

That's ad revenue and location data that Facebook would love to have more direct access to.

Second, Facebook hasn't really been focused on mobile until recently. Mobile features have been second to web features for a long time now.

I think that Facebook has woken up to how far behind they are in the mobile space, and wants to catch up quickly. Photos are probably the most important sector of the mobile space, especially now that phone cameras are generally as good as mid-market point-and-shoot cameras.

Hence acquihiring Mike Matas (Push Pop Press), and now Instagram.

Re: Facebook acquires Instagram

#67

Post by redthrowaway »

jonursenbach wrote: post #39
Toddward wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite a jump from the $500 million valuation they were shooting for last week[1]. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/08/no-filter-required-instagra...

Wonder if there was a bidding war between FB and Google that caused it to double off of that.

I think something like that had to have happened for the valuation to get so high. Apple may have been in the hunt as well, given their propensity for acquiring popular iOS apps and rolling the functionality into vanilla iOS.
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