acquisitions

Zuckerberg did $1 billion Instagram deal on his own

Facebook shocked the tech community with its $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, but perhaps more shocking is the price the photo-sharing app's CEO originally wanted for his company: $2 billion.

During three days of quiet negotiations, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg halved Kevin Systrom's asking price -- all without involving bankers or his own board of directors, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required). In fact, Zuckerberg, who controls roughly 57 percent of the company's voting rights, had pretty much closed the deal with Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom before even informing the board of … Read more

Facebook's acquisition spree continues with TagTile

Facebook is amping up its mobile efforts, this time around commerce.

Facebook today bought a San Francisco-based startup called TagTile, a mobile-based customer loyalty business. Like Square, TagTile provides merchants with a free hardware device (see the white cube in the photo) for customers to tap on with their phone when they checkout. That, combined with the app, lets stores run coupon programs and offer loyalty rewards.

In a post on its site, TagTile said that Facebook is "acquiring substantially all of our assets." How much is that worth? Facebook isn't saying. But this acquisition clearly isn'… Read more

Instagram takes the title of No. 1 free app on iTunes

Instagram has terminated Draw Something's long-time reign over the No. 1 free app spot on iTunes' download charts.

"Instagram is #1 in the @AppStore for the first time ever! Thanks everyone!," Instagram announced on Twitter today.

Most likely this has something to do with Facebook's acquisition of the photo sharing app yesterday. With widespread news that the social networking behemoth laid down $1 billion for Instagram, people who weren't familiar with the app must have gotten curious.

It's been a big last few days for the 2-year-old startup. Not only did it cash in … Read more

Instagram users are young and Facebook users are old

Instead of exuberant rejoicing over the announcement of Facebook's mega-acquisition of Instagram yesterday, there's been a lot of woe-is-me chatter among the photo app's users. One of the reasons may be because the two social networks cater to different groups of people.

Instagram's users, on the whole, are quite a bit younger than Facebook's, according to a study done by consumer behavior research group Experian Hitwise.

"The audience for Instagram is relatively young, with over half of the visitors to the Instagram website are under the age of 35," research director at Hitwise … Read more

How to delete your Instagram account while saving your photos

With the announcement of Facebook's acquisition of Instagram, some Instagram users are worried about information being passed on to the larger social network.

When you delete your account with Instagram, your photos, friendships, comments, and everything you've done with the service will be deleted. Before you pull the trigger, you can save your Instagram shots by using Instaport, an online app that lets you download your images or move them to other social networks. Simply log in to your account, give permission to Instaport to access your files, then start the download.

Now that you have your photos … Read more

Farm Vile: Why an OMGPOP dev shunned Zynga as 'evil'

Zynga's $200 million purchase of Draw Something makers OMGPOP has been heralded as a wild success for the studio, but one former employee who did not join Zynga says the social-gaming giant asked for "too much."

Over at Gamasutra, former OMGPOP employee Shay Pierce has penned a piece spelling out why he did not sign up to work for Zynga following the company's acquisition last week. One side of it was romance, while the other was a difference in ideology, he said.

On the romantic side, Pierce noted that joining Zynga would create a conflict of … Read more

Airbnb buys Crashpadder, its largest U.K. competitor

Two of the largest accommodation booking sites used in the U.K. have teamed up for this summer's Olympic Games.

Airbnb--an online marketplace where travelers find and book places rented out by homeowners, renters, and landlords--announced today that it had acquired its largest U.K. competitor--Crashpadder. Rather than sleeping in hotels or couch surfing, travelers can short-term lease apartments, houses, condos, and even castles through these sites.

U.S.-based Airbnb launched in 2008 and has since grown to have an accommodation database that serves more than 19,000 cities in 192 countries and has booked more … Read more

Monotype gets more digital, buys Bitstream font biz

Monotype Imaging acquired the font business of rival Bitstream for about $50 million in cash, a move that gives it greater clout in the world of digital typography.

Through the acquisition, announced yesterday, Monotype Imaging gets Bitstream's typeface library, its MyFont site for browsing 89,000 fonts and licensing them for use on Web sites, the WhatTheFont service for identifying typefaces, its Font Fusion and Panorama software for font rendering and layout, and 10 patents. It's also hiring 50 Bitstream employees and taking over its research and development site in India.

The move gives Monotype Imaging more heft … Read more

Zynga rumored to acquire Draw Something maker OMGPOP

Rumor has it that game maker Zynga is in the running to buy the company OMGPOP, which makes the newest chart-topping game Draw Something.

If the acquisition goes through, it will be Zynga's biggest buyout to date, according the tech news site TechCrunch, which spoke to sources with direct knowledge of discussions between the two companies.

"Given that OMGPOP has raised around $17 million to date," TechCrunch reporter Kim-Mai Cutler wrote in an article speculating about the acquisition. "I'd expect the price for this deal to be in the $150 [million] to $250 million range.&… Read more