News

Thanks To All Of Your Selfies, Instagram Is Now Worth $35 Billion

by John Haltiwanger

In April 2012, Mark Zuckerberg purchased Instagram for $1 billion.

Many questioned whether or not this was a smart move, given Instagram's valuation was only $500 million at the time.

Moreover, Instagram wasn't generating a whole lot of revenue at that point, and it only had 30 million users.

There were trepidations Facebook doled out way too much for the photo-sharing app, potentially fueling another tech bubble.

A year after the purchase, people still questioned the move.

Instagram was growing but not earning any money. Well, Zuckerberg can now have the satisfaction of telling all of the haters and naysayers to shove it.

Instagram is now worth $35 billion.

It also surpassed Twitter in both the size of its audience and engagement. At this point, Instagram has 300 million active users, which is expected to grow to 420 million by the end of 2015.

Zuckerberg also purchased the popular messaging app WhatsApp back in February. At present, it's valued at just under $18 billion.

Facebook is currently valued at $202 billion. Altogether, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are valued at around $266 billion.

Needless to say, Zuckerberg proved he is much more than just a computer nerd. Indeed, he's become a shrewd businessman.

He's built an empire, and there's no telling what it might evolve into.