Monday, Instagram's co-founders stepped down six years after selling the company to Facebook for $1 billion. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The founders of Instagram on Monday announced they will step down from the popular social media company.

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom and co-founder Mike Krieger sold the company to Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion. Despite the sale, they remained at the helm of the photo-sharing site. Monday, Systrom announced they are "ready for our next chapter."

"We're planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again," Systrom said in a statement. "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.

"We remain excited for the future of Instagram and Facebook in the coming years as we transition from leaders to two users in a billion. We look forward to watching what these innovative and extraordinary companies do next."

Instagram has been one of Facebook's most successful acquisitions. The site had about 30 million users when it was purchased in 2012. By June of this year, that number reached 1 billion.

As the number of users increased, so has the value of the company.

In the same month Instagram reached 1 billion users, Bloomberg Intelligence valued the company at more than $100 billion.</s>Co-founders of photo sharing app Instagram Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger on Monday announced their resignation as chief executive officer and chief technical officer of the company. Instagram is a Facebook-owned company.

Systrom and Krieger did not mention the reason for leaving the company. In a blog post, Systrom said he and Krieger were taking some time off to “explore our curiosity and creativity again”.

Systrom said he and Krieger said they were ready for the next chapter and hinted that they would be building something new. “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,” Systrom wrote.

The pair notified the company’s leadership team and Facebook on Monday about their decision to leave, according to The New York Times.

Facebook’s co-founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, in a statement, wished Systrom and Krieger “all the best and I’m looking forward to seeing what they build next.”

The resignation of Instagram co-founders comes just months after Jan Koum, the co-founder of WhatsApp, left the Facebook-owned company.

In 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion (Rs 7,283 crore). The app has more than 1 billion active monthly users and has grown by adding features like messaging and short videos. In 2016, it added the option of posting slideshows that disappear in 24 hours, a feature of Snapchat’s stories.</s>Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the co-founders of the photo-sharing app Instagram, have resigned and plan to leave the company in the coming weeks, adding to the challenges facing Instagram's parent company, Facebook.

Systrom, Instagram's chief executive, and Krieger, the chief technical officer, notified Instagram's leadership team and Facebook on Monday of their decision to leave, said people with direct knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

Systrom and Krieger did not give a reason for their stepping down, according to the people, but said they planned to take time off after leaving Instagram. Systrom, 34, and Krieger, 32, have known each other since 2010, when they met and transformed a software project built by Systrom into what eventually became Instagram, which now has more than 1 billion users.

In a statement late Monday, Systrom said he and Krieger were "ready for our next chapter" and hinted that they would create something new.

"We're planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again," Systrom said. "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."</s>Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger on Monday announced that they were stepping down from the company that was acquired by Facebook in 2012.

"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," Systrom, company co-founder and CEO, said in a statement.</s>REUTERS: Co-founders of Facebook Inc's Instagram, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, have resigned as chief executive officer and chief technical officer, respectively, the photo-sharing app company announced late on Monday (Sep 24).

Systrom and Krieger did not specify a reason for their departure. Systrom wrote in a blog post on Monday that they plan to take some time off and explore "our curiosity and creativity again".

It was not immediately clear when their last day will be, but it will be soon, according to Instagram.

They notified the photo-sharing app's leadership team and Facebook on Monday about their decision to leave, according to Instagram. The New York Times first reported the move.

Instagram, which Facebook bought in 2012 for US$1 billion, has more than 1 billion active monthly users and has grown by adding features like messaging and short videos. In 2016, it added the ability to post slideshows that disappear in 24 hours, a copy of Snapchat's popular "stories" feature.

Instagram is its parent's fastest-growing slice of revenue, but it touts 4 million fewer monthly advertisers globally. As Instagram has shown more ads, the average price per ad across Facebook's entire family of apps has declined earlier this year after a year of upswing. A new privacy law in Europe also has affected prices.

The departure of Instagram co-founders comes months after the exit of Jan Koum, co-founder of WhatsApp, another Facebook unit.</s>Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have decided to step down. The New York Times first reported that the duo resigned from the photo-sharing company on Monday, Sept. 24, and will depart in the next few weeks.

In a blog post, Systrom said that they plan to take some time off so they could explore their 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,” Systrom wrote.

Kieger and Systrom’s decision to depart came amid reports that tension has mounted between Instagram and Facebook’s leadership over Instagram’s autonomy. TechCrunch cited sources who spoke about the issue.

Bloomberg also reported that the founders of Instagram are leaving Facebook due to growing tensions with the social media company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the direction of the photo and video-sharing social networking app.

Instagram is arguably the most successful and most profitable of Facebook’s acquisitions. It is now the main source of advertising revenue for Facebook, next to the social network’s main news feed.

Kieger and Systrom built Instagram, which they sold to Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion in cash and stock. Instagram only had 30 million registered users when the deal was announced. Now, more than 1 billion people worldwide use the app monthly.

Facebook agreed to give Instagram autonomy as part of the acquisition deal but in May, Instagram’s VP of Product Kevin Weil was transferred to Facebook’s new blockchain team. He was replaced by Adam Mosseri, former VP of Facebook News Feed, who is also a member of Zuckerberg’s inner circle.

A source told TechCrunch that Adam is very strong-willed and that Systrom and Facebook’s chief product officer Chris Cox did not get along well.

“When Chris started taking initiative and with Adam as more of the old-school in-crowd of Facebook, it was clear that it wasn’t going to be pleasant. I saw that this guy [Systrom] is gonna get squeezed,” the source said.

Another source, however, said that Mosseri was well received and productive since he moved to Instagram, and Cox had been cooperative with Systrom.

The co-founders’ departure was also announced just weeks after the photo app’s chief operating officer Marne Levine was moved back to Facebook to become the company’s global head of business development. As Instagram’s COO, Levine helped maintain a harmonious relationship between Instagram and its parent company.

Bloomberg said that Systrom and Krieger’s departure may put additional pressure on Facebook’s shares, which have already dipped by more than 6 percent this year.</s>Instagram founder Kevin Systrom talks about an added video feature to the Instagram program at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, June 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) ORG XMIT: CAMS108

Instagram's co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have resigned and will leave the photo-sharing app's parent company Facebook in the coming weeks.

Systrom announced their resignation Monday night on Instagram's website after The New York Times reported they had told company leaders about their plans earlier in the day.

"We’re planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again," Systrom said in the statement. "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."

Systrom, the chief executive, and Krieger, the chief technical executive, launched the photo and video sharing app in 2010. With more than 500 million users, Instagram is estimated to be worth more than $100 billion if it were a stand-alone company, according to Bloomberg. Facebook acquired it in 2012 for $1 billion when it had 30 million users.

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Systrom said he and Krieger remain "excited" for the future of Instagram and Facebook.

“Kevin and Mike are extraordinary product leaders and Instagram reflects their combined creative talents," Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY. "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.”

After the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the #DeleteFacebook movement, some of the social network users flocked to Instagram. Still, around the 2016 elections, Facebook said about 20 million people saw content on Instagram from fake Russian accounts.</s>Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, co-founders of Instagram, have announced their plan to leave the company that produces the popular photo-sharing application.

"We're planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again," Systrom said in a statement on the company's website. "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."

The New York Times notes that the departures call into question Instagram's future during an already rocky time for parent company Facebook, which bought the company in 2012.

Facebook has come under fire from critics over a number of issues in recent months, including handling user data with perceived carelessness, not preventing foreign interference, and according to the American Civil Liberties Union, allowing employers to discriminate by excluding women and older men from targeted ads on the social media site.

Systrom and Krieger launched Instagram in 2010 out of a small office in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco, according to the Times and Facebook bought it for $1 billion just two years later.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to news of the departure of Systrom and Krieger in a statement, saying, "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."</s>The co-founders of Instagram are resigning their positions with the social media company without explanation.

Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said in a statement that he and Mike Krieger, Instagram’s chief technical officer, plan to leave the company in the next few weeks and take time off “to explore our curiosity and creativity again”.

“Mike and I are grateful for the last eight years at Instagram and six years with the Facebook team,” Mr Systrom said.

“We’ve grown from 13 people to over a thousand with offices around the world, all while building products used and loved by a community of over one billion. We’re now ready for our next chapter.”

“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,” Mr Systrom said.

“We remain excited for the future of Instagram and Facebook in the coming years as we transition from leaders to two users in a billion.”</s>Instagram’s founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are leaving the company eight years after its launch and six years after its acquisition by Facebook. “We’re now ready for our next chapter”, the duo wrote in a statement published on Instagram’s blog. They said they will take some time off to “explore our curiosity and creativity again”, in order to “build new things in the future”.

Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 for 1 billion US dollars. In April, the founders of Whatsapp, the messaging service acquired by Facebook a few years ago, also decided to leave the company, leading many to speculate about a possible feud with Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are expected to step down from the company.