Facebook buys Instagram
Trudging through the trail of 2012 tech stories and yanking out the best was an onerous task. After much scrutiny, we have unearthed the absolute best.
Everybody loves mobile photo sharing service Instagram, but the question on everybody’s mind was- is it worth $1 billion? Facebook founder Zuckerberg was convinced it was, and personally orchestrated the signing of the deal; word has it that the board was not in the know.
It was a big bet to make considering Instagram had zero revenues. Zuckerberg was of the opinion that Instagram could be really useful for Facebook as it sought new means to deeply engage its users and its increased focus on mobile.
The bet seems to have paid off, Instagram’s user base seems to have grown, from 30 million in April to over a 100 million in September, and engagement is at an all-time high. Now that $1 billion looks like a real bargain, especially when you consider that a rival like Google could have snapped up the photo-sharing site and made life really difficult for Facebook.
