Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for approximately $1 billion.
Facebook announced the acquisition in April 2012, agreeing to pay about $1 billion in cash and stock. At the time, Instagram was a rapidly growing mobile photo-sharing service with a small team and no advertising business comparable to Facebook’s.
Instagram was founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. It initially focused on square photographs, filters, and simple mobile sharing. The service expanded to video, Stories, messaging, shopping, and creator tools after joining Facebook’s corporate family.
Facebook later changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms in 2021, so Meta is the current parent-company name. The original buyer, however, was Facebook, Inc. The transaction is also distinct from Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp, which was announced in 2014 for a much larger headline value.