Facebook Instagram social network announced that it is buying the Instagram photo service for about $1 billion in cash and shares.
For those who don’t know: Instagram is one of the best apps for editing and sharing photos on mobile devices. In just 18 months, its audience on iOS alone has reached 30 million users. As soon as the app appeared a week ago on Android, it gained 1 million new users in 12 hours.
So it turns out that Facebook paid, according to Forbes, about $ 33 for each user. For comparison, each user of Draw Something cost Zynge only $16. The problem with the Instagram service is that it is absolutely free at the moment – without any hints of monetization.
Instagram Facebook acquired Instagram not only for its own needs, but so much so that the service could not compete with it in the future, given the assurances of both parties that the application will not only not change, but will also develop in the same direction as before, as it is done on PocketGamer.
Although Zuckerberg’s willingness to give twice as much for a small company, estimated a month ago at $ 500 million, is still surprising.
Anyway, the growth rate of the Instagram audience, as well as the popularity of micropayments in the modern mobile application market, can serve as key factors for making a decision on the introduction of paid filters and functions into the service. However, whether they will recapture $1 billion is a big question.
All procedures related to the purchase, the details of which, as usual, are not disclosed, will be completed towards the end of this quarter.