It seems pretty straightforward to me from the perspective of the founder. Would you rather:
A) Be worth $6.6bn and have control of your company, with people generally crediting the company's success with your leadership
or
B) Be worth $1.6bn and have your (former) company be a division of Zuck's empire that's technically worth 3-5x more to shareholders, but (as you just demonstrated) people generally say that it would be worth far less if Facebook hadn't acquired it?
I think Kevin Systrom probably doesn't give a shit about how much Instagram contributes to Meta's market cap these days, but I imagine that he _does_ care about the impact of Instagram on global culture. At the $1bn+ level, it's all about power and legacy. Evan Spiegel has retained the power to shape his legacy.
The problem is you don't know in 2012 that these are the two options. Obviously no one with the power of foresight is going to choose option B, so I don't get what point you think you're making.
* The first comment in this thread applauds the courage to turn down a $3bn acquisition, and suggests that the eventual outcome has vindicated that decision.
* The second comment suggests that this vindication is debatable based on Instagram’s valuation being higher than Snapchat’s
* I agree with the first comment and disagree with the second comment, so the point I am trying to make is that it the decision to turn down the acquisition was indeed vindicated.
A) Be worth $6.6bn and have control of your company, with people generally crediting the company's success with your leadership
or
B) Be worth $1.6bn and have your (former) company be a division of Zuck's empire that's technically worth 3-5x more to shareholders, but (as you just demonstrated) people generally say that it would be worth far less if Facebook hadn't acquired it?
I think Kevin Systrom probably doesn't give a shit about how much Instagram contributes to Meta's market cap these days, but I imagine that he _does_ care about the impact of Instagram on global culture. At the $1bn+ level, it's all about power and legacy. Evan Spiegel has retained the power to shape his legacy.