Way back in April, Facebook announced it would acquire the photo sharing mobile app company Instagram for a whopping $1 billion. Only a few weeks later, it was reported that the Federal Trade Commission had launched an investigation of the deal. The FTC's probe kept Facebook from closing the deal beyond its previously announced date of the end of the second quarter.
Today, the FTC announced that their investigation into the deal was now officially done, with the members of the commission voting 5-0 in favor of closing down the probe with no other action needed. The brief statement added, "Accordingly, the deal may now proceed as proposed."
Facebook announced the deal to buy Instagram over a month before the company launched its IPO and then saw its stock price plummet to half its amount in just a few months. Meanwhile, the Instagram iOS and Android app itself has seen an explosion of new users. In July, it said it now has a user base of 80 million people.
Some people were critical of Facebook, and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, of buying Instagram for such a large amount of money. However, Zuckerberg said after the announcement that would "do it again" if he was presented with the same deal.
Source: FTC website | Image via Instagram
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