[ad_1]
The co-founders of Instagram are leaving the photo sharing application, raising questions about the future direction of what has been a growth engine for the Facebook parent company.
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom said Monday night in a corporate blog that Mike Krieger, chief technology officer, is leaving the social networking giant.
Systrom did not say when he and Krieger would leave, but The New York Times earlier Monday that it would be in the coming weeks. The leaders warned Facebook's management of their intention to leave on Monday, the Time report said, citing unidentified sources.
"We have grown from 13 to more than 1,000 offices worldwide, while building products used and appreciated by a community of over a billion," writes Systrom. "We are now ready for our next chapter."
Systrom did not clarify why Krieger and he were pulling out of Facebook, which faces one of the most turbulent periods in its history. In recent years, the company has faced problems such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal and its inability to prevent Russian entities from spreading propaganda to its service during the 2016 US presidential campaign.
"Building new things requires us to step back, to understand what inspires us and what the world needs; that's what we intend to do, "wrote Krieger.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised the leaders in a statement, but he did not specify the departure or who would replace them.
"Kevin and Mike are extraordinary product leaders and Instagram reflects their combined creative talents," Zuckerberg said. "I have learned a lot from working with them over the past six years and have really enjoyed it. I wish them the best and I can not wait to see what they will build next. "
Technology analysts generally consider Instagram, which Facebook bought in 2012 for $ 1 billion, as one of Facebook's most important services, especially in light of the parent company's recent scandals. While Facebook's user growth appears to be slowing, Instagram's growth is booming, with Bloomberg Intelligence analysts recently estimating that the service is expected to account for more than $ 100 billion when it's up and running. acted of an independent company.
In April, Jan Koum, founder and CEO of the email service owned by Facebook's WhatsApp, announced that he would pull out. Kum did not say why but the Washington Post indicated that this was due to disagreements with Facebook executives regarding privacy and data encryption policies that they wanted to apply to the messaging application.
Source link
