Instagram Appoints Facebook Veteran Adam Mosseri as New Chief

Instagram Appoints Facebook Veteran Adam Mosseri as New Chief


New York
UJ Business
 — 

Instagram has a new chief.

The company revealed on Monday that Adam Mosseri will take the helm at Instagram starting immediately. This announcement follows the news from last week that the platform’s founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, would be departing from the company.

“We are delighted to pass the leadership to someone with a strong design focus and a commitment to quality — along with an in-depth appreciation for community dynamics,” stated Systrom and Krieger.

Mosseri, who joined Facebook (the parent company of Instagram) in 2008, has served in several capacities, including overseeing News Feed and acting as design director for Facebook’s mobile applications. Most recently, he held the position of VP of product at Instagram. In his new role, Mosseri will manage “all business functions” and will build a new executive team, including leaders for engineering, product, and operations.

Prior to their exit, Systrom served as CEO while Krieger was chief technology officer.

The two entrepreneurs launched the photo-sharing platform out of a co-working space in 2010, and it quickly gained millions of users before being acquired by Facebook (FB) in 2012 for $1 billion.

With Facebook’s investment, Instagram expanded rapidly, adding features such as video sharing, temporary posts, and the recently introduced IGTV for long-form content. Currently, the app boasts over 1 billion active users each month.

While it’s typical for founders to depart after their company is acquired, it is significant that Systrom and Krieger remained for six years following Facebook’s acquisition.

Their future plans remain uncertain. Last week, Systrom stated, “We intend to take time to reignite our curiosity and creativity… Crafting new ideas necessitates stepping back, examining what inspires us, and aligning that with the world’s needs; that’s what we aim to do.”

The departure of Systrom and Krieger occurs just months after Jan Koum resigned as CEO of WhatsApp, another platform acquired by Facebook for $19 billion in 2014.

Brian Acton, Koum’s co-founder at WhatsApp, left Facebook in 2017. Earlier this year, he supported calls for people to delete their Facebook accounts amid revelations regarding Cambridge Analytica’s unauthorized access to user data.