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The Inside Story of How Facebook Acquired Instagram

The social giant’s controversial $1 billion acquisition shows how a tech monopoly wields power

Sarah Frier
OneZero
11 min readAug 5, 2020

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Facebook and Instagram logos on a smartphone.
Photo: Silas Stein/picture alliance/Getty Images

Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram was a watershed moment for Big Tech. It demonstrated just how much wealth and power the industry holds — and how it could be wielded. Secret emails, published as part of a historic antitrust hearing, revealed that Mark Zuckerberg viewed the app as a threat to his own social network, and one to be neutralized at great cost. In this excerpt from No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram, author Sarah Frier offers a window into how this monumental deal unfolded behind the scenes — and what Silicon Valley power looks like in action.

In early 2012, Twitter had been aggressively courting Instagram for a potential acquisition. Instagram’s founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, were wined and dined over sushi and breakfast at the St. Regis hotel. Twitter even put together a term sheet to acquire them for 7% to 10% of its stock, worth $500 million to $700 million. CEO Dick Costolo explained his vision: that Systrom would get to continue running Instagram, but could also be head of Twitter’s product, and help Twitter become a more visual destination.

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OneZero
OneZero

Published in OneZero

OneZero is a former publication from Medium about the impact of technology on people and the future. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Sarah Frier
Sarah Frier

Written by Sarah Frier

Tech reporter for Bloomberg in SF (@Business). UNC grad. Email sfrier1 at bloomberg dot net.

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