The founders of Instagram are stepping down from the company they built, reports The New York Times. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger will leave the file-sharing app company in the coming weeks.
Neither Systrom nor Krieger gave a reason for their departure. They added that they were planning to take some time off after they part ways with the company they built, saying they hope to “explore our curiosity and creativity again.”
Instagram was launched in 2010, and was able to net one million subscribers in two months. Less than two years later, Facebook acquired them for approximately $1 billion. Its user base has since climbed to one billion.
Here is their full statement:
Mike and I are grateful for the last eight years at Instagram and six years with the Facebook team. We’ve grown from 13 people to over a thousand with offices around the world, all while building products used and loved by a community of over one billion. We’re now ready for our next chapter.
We’re planning on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again. 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.
We remain excited for the future of Instagram and Facebook in the coming years as we transition from leaders to two users in a billion. We look forward to watching what these innovative and extraordinary companies do next.
(Via The New York Times)