Early last week, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company had acquired photo-sharing service Instagram for $1 billion. Later reports have suggested that the deal was sudden, taking a mere two days to complete.
Now, a New York Times report has corroborated that with a history of Instagram, from its start as prototype “Burbn” to its acquisition. Founder Kevin Systrom had told associates that he was not interested in selling, says the Times, mere months before Zuckerberg’s call, and Instagram had just completed a second round of funding, suggesting it was looking to remain independent.
The full profile of Systrom and Instagram describes a close-knit network of investors and engineers that would ultimately help propel Instagram to success. By selling to Facebook, however, Systrom may have lost an ally: Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who had supported Instagram and allegedly expressed interest in buying it in the past few months. Since the acquisition, Dorsey has apparently stopped using the service, though his company declined to comment officially.
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