Meta Platforms' (META +0.00%) social media app Instagram became a hit with the masses shortly after it launched in 2010, generating 1 million downloads in fewer than three months. As of early 2025, Instagram had more than 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. To understand who benefits from all that activity, let's explore Instagram's ownership story, including the company's founder and its current owner.
Social Media
Who is the owner of Instagram?
Facebook's parent company, Meta Platforms, also owns Instagram. The app has been part of the Meta empire since April 2012, when Meta purchased Instagram from its founders for roughly $1 billion in cash and stock.
NASDAQ: META
Key Data Points
Shareholder
Meta's largest individual shareholders
- Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and original developer of the social media application Facebook and is currently Meta's chairman and CEO. Zuckerberg owns nearly 345.5 million Meta shares, nearly all of which are Class B stock with expanded voting rights. Because of that, he controls 61% of the company's voting power even though he only owns about 13.5% of the company's outstanding shares.
- Sheryl Sandberg served as Meta's chief operating officer (COO) between 2008 and 2022. She remained on the company's board but vacated that position in 2024. Sandberg owns nearly 1.4 million Meta shares.
- Christopher Cox is Meta's chief product officer, having joined Meta in 2005 as a software engineer. He left the company in 2019 to pursue new projects but returned in 2020. Cox's Meta share count is 416,313.
- Susan Li is Meta's CFO. She owned 121,119 shares of the social media giant.
- Javier Olivan is Meta's current COO. He joined the company in 2007 and formerly held the role of chief growth officer. Olivan owns 117,397 shares of Meta.
Board of Directors
Meta had 13 members on its board of directors as of early 2025. Most are also shareholders, as explained below:
- Zuckerberg is the founder and current chairman and CEO of Meta.
- Peggy Alford joined Meta's board in 2019. She has held executive leadership roles at Paypal (PYPL -2.00%) and the philanthropic organization Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Alford owns 8,385 Meta shares.
- Marc Andreessen is a co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and an early investor in Instagram. He also co-founded Netscape, which was later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. Andreessen formerly held leadership roles at several technology companies, including AOL. He currently serves on the board for Coinbase (COIN -6.72%) and other companies. Andreessen has been on Meta's board since 2008 and owns 48,131 Meta shares.
- John Arnold is co-founder and co-chair of philanthropic organization Arnold Ventures. He also founded the energy-focused investment fund Centaurus Capital and the large commodity hedge fund Centaurus Energy. Arnold owned 423 Meta shares. He joined the board in February 2024.
- John Elkann joined Meta's board in 2025. He's the CEO of Exor, one of Europe's largest investment companies.
- Andrew Houston is the CEO and chair of the collaboration application Dropbox (DBX +0.07%). He has served on Meta's board since 2020. Houston owns 11,359 Meta shares.
- Nancy Killefer came to the Meta board in 2020. Her background includes holding a senior partner role at management consulting firm McKinsey and several executive roles with the U.S. Treasury Department. Killefer holds 11,442 Meta shares.
- Robert Kimmitt is the senior international counsel at international law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP. He has also held leadership roles with the U.S. Treasury Department, Time Warner, and Lehman Brothers. He joined Meta's board in 2020 and serves as the company's lead independent director. Kimmitt owns 9,988 Meta shares.
- Charlie Songhurst joined Meta's board in early 2025. He's a technology investor who has invested in over 500 startups.
- Hock Tan is the president and CEO of S&P 500 tech company Broadcom (AVGO -1.44%). Prior to his role at Broadcom, Tan held senior leadership positions at Integrated Circuit Systems and Commodore International. Tan joined Meta's board in 2024. He owned 423 Meta shares.
- Tracey Travis is executive vice president and CFO for Estée Lauder Companies (EL +0.38%), a global cosmetics brand. Prior to her tenure at Estée Lauder, she was senior vice president and CFO for luxury fashion company Ralph Lauren (RL -0.57%). Travis joined Meta's board in 2020 and owns 11,442 shares of the company.
- Dana White joined the board in early 2025. He's the President and CEO of United Fighting Championship.
- Tony Xu is the CEO, chairman, and co-founder of the delivery app DoorDash (DASH -3.76%). He joined Meta's board in 2022 and currently owns 5,544 shares of the company.
How to invest in Instagram
You can invest in Instagram by buying shares of Meta Platforms within your brokerage account. Many traditional and Roth IRAs may also allow you to buy Meta stock.
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About the Author
Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Matt DiLallo has positions in Broadcom, DoorDash, Meta Platforms, and PayPal and has the following options: short May 2025 $82.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Coinbase Global, DoorDash, Dropbox, Meta Platforms, PayPal, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short March 2025 $85 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
