Facebook Purchases Instagram

Facebook announced today it will be acquiring popular mobile photo-sharing app Instagram. The agreement is valued at approximately $1 billion in cash and Facebook shares, and is expected to close later this quarter.

According to a post on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s timeline, the Instagram team will be joining Facebook, but the Instagram brand will continue to be built and grown independently. Zuckerberg also noted that keeping Instagram connected to other networks than Facebook is important, and his company would be “building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.”

Instagram initially launched for Apple’s App Store in October 2010, and the Android version debuted last week on April 3, 2012.