Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have decided to leave Facebook, which purchased Instagram for $1 billion in 2012. Instagram started with just a handful of people and now employs more than one thousand all around the globe.
Systrom and Krieger expressed gratitude for the opportunities afforded them over the eight years since Instagram’s conception.
“We’re now ready for our next chapter. We’re planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again,” said Systrom in a blog post.
“Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do.”
Earlier this year, Jan Koum, who founded WhatsApp, also departed Facebook. Facebook bought WhatsApp in 2014.
It’s not clear if these departures are related to Facebook’s ongoing struggles with the government, which has pummeled the social media giant for mishandling user data over the last two years.
