Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the co-founders of Instagram, are leaving the company, saying they plan on "taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again."
They founded the photo-sharing app in 2010 and sold it to Facebook for $1 billion in 2012. Systrom is the company's CEO and Krieger the chief technology officer, and in a blog post Monday night, Systrom said in order to build something new, they need to "step back, understand what inspires us, and match that with what the world needs."
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Systrom and Krieger were clashing with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the direction of Instagram, frustrated that he was spending more and more time in the day-to-day operations of the brand. In a statement, Zuckerberg called Systrom and Krieger "extraordinary product leaders" with "creative talents. I've learned a lot working with them for the past six years and have really enjoyed it."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 seriously spooky cartoons about HalloweenCartoons Artists take on the GOP boogeyman, a white sheet, and more
-
Political cartoons for October 25Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include hospital bill trauma, Independence Day, and more
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
Google avoids the worst in antitrust rulingSpeed Read A federal judge rejected the government's request to break up Google
-
Supreme Court allows social media age check lawSpeed Read The court refused to intervene in a decision that affirmed a Mississippi law requiring social media users to verify their ages
-
Nvidia hits $4 trillion milestoneSpeed Read The success of the chipmaker has been buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence
-
X CEO Yaccarino quits after two yearsSpeed Read Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to run X in 2023
-
Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on XSpeed Read Grok made antisemitic comments and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler'
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
Amazon launches 1st Kuiper internet satellitesSpeed Read The battle of billionaires continues in space
-
Test flight of orbital rocket from Europe explodesSpeed Read Isar Aerospace conducted the first test flight of the Spectrum orbital rocket, which crashed after takeoff
