Zuckerberg On Instagram: There’s Been No Integration, The Acquisition Hasn’t Closed

Alexia Tsotsis is the co-editor of TechCrunch. She attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, majoring in Writing and Art, and moved to New York City shortly after graduation to work in the Media industry. After four years of living in New York and attending courses at New York University, she returned to Los Angeles in... ? Learn More

Asked today on Facebook’s very first earnings call about the status of Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that the mobile photosharing startup had not been integrated AT ALL into Facebook, “The acquisition hasn’t closed, so no integration at all yet. There will be an update when that happens.” he said.

This aligns exactly with what we’re hearing is happening with the deal, namely stalling. Instagram is functioning almost completely independently of the social network and continues to grow, adding 30 million users since the acquisition this past May. We’ve also heard rumors that the general expectation is that the deal will close next fall.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook agreed to pay $300 million in cash and 23 million shares for Instagram, the price of the shares will be set at the deal’s close. At today’s stock closing price of $26.84, the deal is valued at $917,320,000, under the $1 billion reported at the time.

Zuckerberg said that aside from the Instagram acquisition, Facebook will continue to move forward in its general strategy of talent acquisitions.

“Our strategy has been primarily to buy companies for talent,” Zuckerberg explained, “We want the kind of people who want to build out their own companies. Outside of Instagram that’s been our strategy and will be our strategy moving forward.”

Image via My Moby

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