Facebook Acquires Instagram... A $1 Billion Waste??? (SFLY)

Facebook is paying $1 billion to acquire Instagram in cash and stock and in a deal which should close in the next 30-days.  The deal is likely to come right before the Facebook IPO hits the NASDAQ.

Instagram is a free download for ‘fast beautiful photo sharing’ per the company’s website.  The quotes from the Instagram site noted, “It’s a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your photos with friends and family.  Snap a picture, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram. Share to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr too – it’s as easy as pie. It’s photo sharing, reinvented.”

Instagram’s blog noted, “When Mike and I started Instagram nearly two years ago, we set out to change and improve the way the world communicates and shares. We’ve had an amazing time watching Instagram grow into a vibrant community of people from all around the globe. Today, we couldn’t be happier to announce that Instagram has agreed to be acquired by Facebook.”   Facebook has previously tried to acquire this company and Instagram recently closed on some new venture funding.

The news has Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) down over 7% at $27.31 so far today against a 52-week trading range of $21.34 to $66.70.

Paying $1 billion for a photo sharing service may be a hard sell for Wall Street analysts seeking to identify how to value companies in the social media space.  We’ll leave this one up to you. When you have a market value of $80 to $100 billion in a pre-IPO goal, maybe overpaying is somehow good.

JON C. OGG