Instagram founders depart FB after clashes with Zuckerberg

san francisco — The founders of Instagram are leaving Facebook after growing tensions with chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg over the direction of the photo-sharing app, people familiar with the matter said.

Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who have been at the company since Instagram’s acquisition by Facebook in 2012, had been able to keep the brand and product independent while relying on Facebook’s infrastructure and resources to grow. Lately, they were frustrated with an uptick in day-to-day involvement by Zuckerberg, who has become more reliant on Instagram in planning for Facebook’s future, said the people.

Without the founders around, Instagram is likely to become more tightly integrated with Facebook, making it more of a product division within the larger company than an independent operation. For years, Systrom and Krieger were able to amicably resist certain Facebook product initiatives that they felt went against their vision. Facebook’s shares were down 2.4 per cent at $161.51 in early trading, knocking more than $11 billion off the stock’s market value.