Meta Platforms' (META -2.47%) social media app Instagram became a hit with the masses shortly after it launched in 2010, generating 1 million downloads in under three months.
As of late 2025, Instagram had 3 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.
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.
Savvy decisions made by Instagram founders and Stanford graduates Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger made the transaction possible. The social media powerhouse was developed after the founders pivoted another photo-sharing app Systrom had created into Instagram as we know it. It became a success with users and a coveted acquisition target among established social media companies.
Before selling the company to Meta, Systrom and Krieger raised $7 million in Series A funding and reportedly fielded an acquisition offer from X, formerly Twitter. After the Meta acquisition, Systrom and Krieger remained part of Instagram's leadership team until September 2018. Systrom served as CEO, and Krieger as head of engineering.
Largest shareholders
Who are the largest shareholders?
Since Instagram is owned entirely by Meta, Meta's shareholders are the true owners of Instagram.
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 342.8 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 15.7% of the company's outstanding 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 360,632.
- 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.
- Susan Li is Meta's CFO. She owned 125,163 shares of the social media giant.
- Andrew Bosworth is Meta's chief technology officer. He joined Facebook in 2006 and owns 102,070 shares.
Board of Directors
Meta had 15 members on its board of directors as of late 2025.
NAME | TITLE | TENURE |
|---|---|---|
Mark Zuckerberg | Chairman | Since 2004 |
Peggy Alford | Director | Since 2019 |
Marc Andreessen | Director | Since 2008 |
John Arnold | Director | Since 2024 |
Patrick Collison | Director | Since 2025 |
John Elkaan | Director | Since 2024 |
Andrew Houston | Director | Since 2020 |
Nancy Killefer | Director | Since 2020 |
Robert Kimmitt | Lead Independent Director | Since 2020 |
Dina Powel McCormick | Director | Since 2020 |
Charlie Songhurst | Director | Since 2024 |
Hock Tran | Director | Since 2024 |
Tracey Travis | Director | Since 2020 |
Dana White | Director | Since 2024 |
Tony Xu | Director | Since 2022 |
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