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Facebook bolsters imaging platform with $1bn Instagram buy

Social network promises not to lock down photo tool

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Facebook has made a $1bn acquisition to boost its photo-sharing arsenal, agreeing to buy the popular imaging service Instagram.

The company said that the deal would include a combination of cash and stock holdings in Facebook, which is expected to go public later this year.

The deal is expected to close within the next few weeks.

Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told users that the deal would help power an update to the company's mobile photo-sharing platform.

"For years, we have focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family," Zuckerberg said.

"Now, we'll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people, based on your interests."

While the deal will bring Instagram under the Facebook banner, the company is looking to assure users that the current platforms and services will not go away any time soon.

Zuckerberg said that the company will continue to operate independently, offering its services for use outside Facebook and within other social networking services.

"We will try to learn from Instagram's experience to build similar features into our other products," Zuckerberg said.

"At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook's strong engineering team and infrastructure."

The acquisition comes as Facebook is looking to move forward with what will be a record IPO for a social networking service.

The offering, expected to take place later this spring, could see the company's value climb as high as $100bn.

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