Instagram Co-Founders Resign From Company

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have resigned from the photo-sharing app they created in 2010 and are expected to depart the company within the next several weeks.

“Mike and I are grateful for the last eight years at Instagram and six years with the Facebook team,” Systrom said in a statement Monday night. “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,” the statement continued. “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.”

No reason was given for their departure. Instagram did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from TheWrap.

Citing individuals with knowledge of the matter, the New York Times reported that Instagram head Systrom and chief technical officer Krieger informed leadership at Instagram and parent company Facebook of their decision earlier Monday.

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Systrom and Krieger aren’t the first founders of a business acquired by Facebook to leave the company. Jan Koum, founder of instant messaging service WhatsApp that Facebook bought in 2014, stepped down in April. According to the Times, Koum left because he was concerned about Facebook’s policies on the use of user data.

Systrom and Krieger founded Instagram in 2010, selling it to Facebook for $1 billion in 2012.