Yahoo Finance Instagram founders resign amid disagreements with Facebook
Instagram's two founders have abruptly resigned from Facebook amid increasing tensions with Mark Zuckerberg over the photo-sharing phenomenon’s direction.
Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who sold their app to Facebook six years ago, abruptly announced their resignation and said they wanted to “explore their creativity again”.
Their departures come amid growing tensions between Facebook and Instagram. Since Mr Zuckerberg paid $1bn (£760m) for the company in 2012, it has been transformed from a hipster iPhone app for sharing photos into a social media giant in its own right, with more than 1bn users and growth that has outpaced Facebook’s own.
Instagram has remained largely independent since the deal, with Mr Systrom and Krieger remaining in charge, but Facebook has increasingly exercised its influence in recent months as its own growth has slowed.
Changes to the app have encouraged more Instagram users to share their photos on Facebook, and introduced alerts within the Instagram app designed to send users back to Facebook.
A post shared by Kevin Systrom (@kevin) on Sep 24, 2018 at 9:57pm PDT
In an announcement that did not mention Mr Zuckerberg, Mr Systrom said he wanted to launch a new project. “We’re planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again. Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do,” he said.
Mr Zuckerberg said: “Kevin and Mike are extraordinary product leaders and Instagram reflects their combined creative talents. I've learned a lot working with them for the past six years and have really enjoyed it. I wish them all the best and I'm looking forward to seeing what they build next.”
INBOX— Statement from Instagram co-founders. Confirms @MikeIsaac story that they are leaving. pic.twitter.com/FIr5DgSgpw
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) 25 September 2018
Steve Anderson, who became Instagram’s first investor with a $250,000 cheque in 2010, said that Mr Systrom and Mr Krieger had been “unquestionably the creative forces behind what made Instagram what it is today”.
On their departure, he told The Telegraph: “Kevin and Mike are two of the most principled leaders I’ve worked with, so they no doubt applied a lot of thought and purposeful reflection before making this important decision.”
Shares in Snapchat’s parent company Snap rose by 2.3pc on the news. Snapchat has suffered in recent years as Instagram has assumed many of its most popular features. Facebook’s shares initially fell 2pc before recovering.
Their departure means that the founders of Facebook's three biggest acquisitions - WhatsApp, Oculus and now Instagram - have left since being bought by the social media giant. WhatsApp founder Jan Koum left Facebook earlier this year while Oculus Rift inventor Palmer Luckey departed last year amid a political row.
