CMA case Facebook / Instagram Inc: Meta / Instagram
The United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority cleared Meta's acquisition of Instagram on 14 August 2012 (case Facebook / Instagram Inc).[1]
The Office of Fair Trading, whose case records the Competition and Markets Authority now holds, cleared Facebook's acquisition of Instagram unconditionally in August 2012. Competition authorities later came to regard purchases of this kind very differently, and the same transaction became central to the antitrust case brought against the company in the United States.
Facebook acquired Instagram, then a thirteen-person company with no revenue, for about $1 billion in cash and stock. The final consideration fell as Facebook shares declined between announcement and closing.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
[1]Facebook / Instagram Inc merger inquiry — Office of Fair Trading (records held by the Competition and Markets Authority), Regulator decision, published 14 August 2012; retrieved 8 September 2026.