ACQUISITION DONE RIGHT
Systrom and Krieger notified the photo-sharing app's leadership team and Facebook on Monday about their decision to leave, Instagram said. Their departure would be soon, it said. The New York Times first reported the move.
Systrom and Krieger met through Stanford University and worked separately in Silicon Valley before forming Instagram in 2010.
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. The photo-sharing app has over 1 billion active monthly users and has grown by adding features such as messaging and short videos. In 2016, it added the ability to post slideshows that disappear in 24 hours, mimicking the "stories" feature of Snap Inc's Snapchat.
The photo app's global revenue this year is likely to exceed $8 billion, showed data from advertising consultancy EMarketer.
Increased advertising on Instagram has seen the average price-per-ad across Facebook's apps decline this year after a year of upswing. A new privacy law in Europe also has affected prices.
Instagram had been hailed in Silicon Valley as a flashy acquisition done right, with the team kept relatively small and Systrom having the freedom to add features such as peer-to-peer messaging, video uploads and advertising.
"I see Mark practice a tremendous amount of restraint in giving us the freedom to run, but the reason why I think he gives us the freedom to run is because when we run, it typically works," Systrom told Recode last June.
The app's latest product, IGTV, has been slow to gain traction. Offered through Instagram and as a standalone app, IGTV serves up longer-length video content, mostly from popular Instagram users.
Video content has been a major emphasis for Facebook as it seeks to satisfy advertisers' desire to stream more commercials online
