Facebook has agreed to buy the hugely popular photo-sharing app maker Instagram for about $1 billion in cash and stock in a blockbuster deal reverberating around Silicon Valley.

Facebook’s chief executive and founder made the announcement Monday on Facebook in a post that has already generated tens of thousands of likes. He has pledged to allow Instagram to remain independent.

“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote. “We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook. That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.”

Zuckerberg noted that the acquisition marked a milestone for Facebook – and hinted that it might be the last of its size and scope.

Facebook has mainly targeted smaller companies in its acquisitions, spending no more than tens of millions of dollars on each, and usually just to get the raw talent, not the technology. The 2-year-old Instagram in San Francisco has just 13 employees. They didn't hear about the deal until co-founder Kevin Systrom called an all-hands meeting Monday morning.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.”

The deal is expected to close later this quarter. Instagram had been rumored to be close to a new funding round that would have valued the startup at $500 million. It had turned down a previous offer from Facebook.Former Facebook executive Matt Cohler with Benchmark Capital is a major investor in Instagram.?

滬江英語(yǔ)快訊：4月10日，F(xiàn)acebook?CEO扎克伯格(Mark?Zuckerberg)在其個(gè)人主頁(yè)上宣布以10億美元收購(gòu)成立僅18個(gè)月，只有13名員工的小公司Instagram！Facebook目前正在籌備IPO(首次公開(kāi)招股，了解更多IPO>>)，預(yù)計(jì)融資最多100億美元。Facebook自成立以來(lái)，一直都沒(méi)有進(jìn)行過(guò)大規(guī)模的并購(gòu)交易，而是通常以數(shù)千萬(wàn)美元的價(jià)格收購(gòu)小型創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，而且看重的并非技術(shù)而是人才。此次Facebook拿出10億美元天價(jià)收購(gòu)Instagram，自然引發(fā)業(yè)界轟動(dòng)。?業(yè)內(nèi)人士指出，F(xiàn)acebook此舉，一方面為自己消滅了最大的潛在競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手；另一方面也將幫助Facebook改善自己的圖片分享功能，并通過(guò)收購(gòu)成為移動(dòng)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的圖片社交老大，可謂“一箭雙雕”。?

相關(guān)內(nèi)容補(bǔ)充:

1.Instagram是什么？

Instagram是一款可以在智能手機(jī)上進(jìn)行照片分享的熱門(mén)APP，主要有圖片編輯和圖片分享兩種功能，它能以一種快速、美妙和有趣的方式將你的隨時(shí)抓拍下的圖片分享給他人。

2.Instagram公司

Instagram公司位于舊金山，產(chǎn)品于2010年10月正式登錄App?store，隨后用戶(hù)迅速增長(zhǎng)，Instagram上線(xiàn)僅一周就擁有了10?萬(wàn)注冊(cè)用戶(hù)。最新信息顯示，Instagram用戶(hù)人數(shù)已經(jīng)超過(guò)3000萬(wàn)人。?Instagram公司只有13名員工，也從未進(jìn)行任何市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)。??Facebook的此次收購(gòu)令該公司的13名員工一夜暴富，平均每人可分得約7692萬(wàn)美元。

3.Instagram創(chuàng)始人

與Facebook的CEO扎克伯格相似，Instagram的創(chuàng)始人希斯特羅姆(Kevin?Systrom)?，也是80后年輕俊杰。他持有Instagram公司約40%的股份，粗略估算他在此次收購(gòu)中可獲得4億美元。?希斯特羅姆本人的職業(yè)出身為市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)，他自學(xué)編程技術(shù)，并自學(xué)成才。