Which startup was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012?
Answer
Instagram was acquired by Facebook for about $1 billion in 2012.
Facebook announced the deal on April 9, 2012, agreeing to buy the photo-sharing startup in a combination of cash and stock. At the time, Instagram had a small team but enormous momentum, and Facebook said it intended to keep the service independently managed rather than immediately folding it into the Facebook product.
Instagram had launched in October 2010, created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger after they reshaped an earlier location-based project called Burbn into a focused mobile photo app. Its emphasis on square photos, filters, and simple sharing helped it build a large audience before the acquisition. Instagram released its Android app just days before Facebook announced the purchase.
The transaction officially closed on September 6, 2012, at a final consideration reported as $300 million in cash and 23 million Facebook shares. People sometimes confuse the deal with Facebook’s later WhatsApp acquisition, announced in 2014 for roughly $19 billion. Instagram’s purchase was the earlier $1 billion landmark acquisition.