Twelve years ago today, social media company Facebook, which is now known as Meta Platforms Inc META announced a $1 billion acquisition of mobile photo-sharing app Instagram.
The acquisition happened shortly before the company’s IPO and was criticized due to its massive price tag for a small company. Among those who poked fun were talk show host Jon Stewart.
The Risky Move of Facebook
What Happened: Meta Platforms ended the fourth quarter with 3.19 billion daily active users and 3.98 billion monthly active users, which includes several of its platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Years prior, a $1 billion deal to acquire Instagram was considered a big risk. The mobile photo-sharing app had 27 million users on iOS and had just launched on Android, gaining one million users in 24 hours. While the platform had seen initial success, it also was questioned over the potential for monetization and how it would stand out against the competition.
Resurfacing of Jon Stewart’s Critique
A clip from an April 2012 “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart episode is being shared on social media 12 years later, with the host criticizing the acquisition.
“Oh my god that is unbelievable, what is Instagram,” Stewart asks before playing another clip.
The clip shows how Instagram works, how users can edit photos and even take new ones with the app.
“Wow, that’s really lame,” Stewart adds. “Why is this news?”
Meta’s Last Laugh
The news clip goes on to share that the purchase price is $1 billion.
“A billion dollars of money? For a thing that kinda ruins your pictures,” Stewart asks. “The only Instagram worth a billion dollars would be an app that instantly gets you a gram.”
Why It’s Important: The clip made a reappearance as Stewart recently interviewed Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. Stewart revealed he was told not to interview Khan when he had his “The Problem with Jon Stewart” show on AppleTV+.