Instagram was founded by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom back in 2010. The photo-sharing service has come a very long way in under a decade. It was acquired for $1 billion in 2012 by Facebook. The social networking giant’s deeper pockets and reach have enabled Instagram to further increase its popular across the globe. Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom have now announced that they have resigned from Facebook.
The co-founders said in a post on the official Instagram blog that they will be taking this opportunity to “explore curiosity and creativity again.” Whether we’ll see a new product from the duo remains to be seen.
However, reports suggest that this may not be the only reason the two have decided to step away from the company they founded. Bloomberg reports that their increasing friction with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is a reason as well.
Recode adds that Facebook’s increased influence over Instagram was not taken well by the co-founders. One source speaking to the scribe mentioned Facebook’s behavior as “bizarre meddling,” which hurt morale within Instagram. Zuckerberg reportedly had the promotion of Instagram inside Facebook’s main app scaled back which resulted in weekly referrals dropping by hundreds of thousands of users.
The story of their friction has obviously not been confirmed by Facebook. Zuckerberg praised the duo in a statement released to the media, saying that “Kevin and Mike are extraordinary product leaders and Instagram reflects their combined creative talents.”