On April 12, 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock.[44][45]
The deal, which was made just prior to Facebook's scheduled IPO, cost
about a quarter of Facebook's cash-on-hand, according to figures
documented at the end of 2011. The deal was for a company characterized
as having "lots of buzz but no business model", and the price was contrasted with the US$35 million Yahoo! paid for Flickr in 2005,[39] a website that has since become among the 50 most popular in the world.[46]
Mark Zuckerberg noted that Facebook was "committed to building and growing Instagram independently", in contrast to its past practice.[39] According to multiple reports, the deal netted Systrom US$400 million based on his ownership stake in the business.[47] The exact purchase price was US$300 million in cash and 23 million shares of stock.[48]
On December 17, 2012, Instagram updated its Terms of Service,
granting itself the right—starting on January 16, 2013—to sell users'
photos to third parties without notification or compensation.[49][50][51][52] The criticism from privacy advocates, consumers, the National Geographic Society,[53] and celebrities like Kim Kardashian[54]
prompted Instagram to issue a statement retracting the controversial
terms; regardless, the issue resulted in the loss of a portion of
Instagram's user-base, as former users switched to other photo-sharing
services, which reported an increase in usage.[55]
