- Bought for ~$1B by Facebook (FB +1.8%) in 2012, Citi thinks Instagram is now worth 35x as much, and even calls this estimate "conservative."
- Citi: "While Instagram is still early in monetizing its audience and data assets, and its financial contribution to [Facebook] is minimal today, we believe that it is quickly gaining monetization traction, and would contribute more than $2bn in high-margin revenue at current user and engagement levels if fully monetized."
- For reference, Twitter is worth a relatively modest $23.7B. In Twitter's favor: The company is much further along in monetizing its platform, and arguably has more valuable datasets to leverage. In Instagram's favor: Its MAUs just passed Twitter's (the gap will likely widen going forward), and its photo/video streams lend themselves well to brand advertising.
- Facebook is once more trading near $80. Its all-time high is $81.16.