Instagram, WhatsApp at legal crossroads
Facebook acquired Instagram when the photo-sharing app had just 13 employees. At the time, Zuckerberg was preparing to take Facebook public in what would become the largest tech IPO on record.
At the time of their acquisitions, Instagram had about 30 million users and was bought for $1 billion, while WhatsApp, with around 450 million users, was acquired for a whopping $19 billion. Both have since outpaced Facebook’s growth, according to The New York Times.
Facebook’s acquisitions of both platforms are central to the antitrust trial that began Monday and could last for weeks.
The federal regulatory agency has accused the tech company of holding a monopoly over the social networking market, arguing that it should never have been allowed to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp.