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They probably did to protect themselves... instagram was growing like crazy, last thing FB needs is another giant network to share people with.

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That's my thought too. Instagram has a plausible claim on all mobile photo sharing, and there's a strain of thought that suggests that 80% of the value of Facebook is photo sharing. Instagram might be a bit too much of a free radical for Facebook to let float around the market.

Or even worse...end up in Google, Apple, MSFT, Amazon, or anyone else's hands.

This was purely defense just like YouTube, and Diapers.com & Zappos for Amazon.

Brilliant move all-around.

In a few years, this price will seem like a steal...much like the $1B that Yahoo proposed for FB a few years ago seems laughable now.

That would mean the likes of pinterest would be next.

Unlike Instagram and Facebook, people on pinterest don't take their own pictures.

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