Map
Case

Facebook's purchase of Instagram (2012) and the FTC case

Facebook announced on 9 April 2012 that it would buy the photo-sharing app Instagram for USD 1 billion in cash and stock, and said it would run it as an independent company (USA Today). On 9 December 2020 the FTC sued Facebook, alleging that it bought Instagram rather than compete with it and seeking possible divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp (FTC). On 18 November 2025 Judge James Boasberg ruled that the FTC had not shown that Meta holds a monopoly (NPR).

Industry
Social media (USA)
Frameworks applied
Post-acquisition integration styles
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Frameworks applied

This case is read through the frameworks below.

  • Post-acquisition integration stylesHaving just bought a company, should the acquirer's leadership absorb, preserve, combine symbiotically or merely hold it, weighing strategic interdependence against target autonomy?

Sources

References

Listed A–Z by author surname, Harvard style. A source with a DOI links to https://doi.org/…; one without links to its page or says plainly that it has no DOI.

  1. Federal Trade Commission (2020) FTC Sues Facebook for Illegal Monopolization. FTC press releases.No DOIftc.govSource page
  2. Ruwitch, J. (2025) Judge sides with Meta in antitrust trial, will not spin off WhatsApp and Instagram. NPR.No DOInpr.orgSource page
  3. Swartz, J. (2012) Facebook acquires Instagram in $1 billion deal. ABC News.No DOIabcnews.comSource page