Facebook cleared to acquire Instagram
The Federal Trade Commission has cleared Facebook's proposed purchase of mobile photo-sharing app Instagram.
FTC commissioners voted unanimously to close the agency's investigation into deal, once valued at $1 billion in cash and stock, the agency said in a statement. With Facebook's stock price at $19 a share, half of what it was when it went public, the deal is now worth about $747.1 million.
"We are pleased that the Federal Trade Commission has cleared the transaction after its careful and thorough review," a Facebook spokesperson wrote in an e-mail. Instagram representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The plan got regulatory approval in the U.K. last week.
