Back in DC today for week two of the Meta-FTC antitrust trial. On the stand this morning: Kevin Systrom, IG Co-Founder, who was just sworn in and is expected to be questioned all day
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We are almost two hours in. A key takeaway so far: Systrom claims that IG could have built many of the product & safety features by itself w/o Meta's help if a deal hadn't been done
this has been really captivating testimony. Systrom alleges that Zuckerberg grew to view IG as a "threat" to Facebook and starved it of resources (headcount, mostly). In one email shown from 2017, Systrom told colleagues it was "offensive"
Systrom was just asked about negotiating the $1 billion deal price for Instagram. “I think they got a screaming deal," he said.
Does Systrom regret selling at that price given how big IG has become? “Not necessarily…Sometimes you make a bet and it turns out well and I think Mark did that.”
Meta’s lawyers spent the afternoon reminding Systrom (and everyone else) how much they contributed to IG’s success. The growth would have been much slower without Meta - which Systrom agreed with. He also acknowledged IG may not have made it on its own. Who knows!? But he believes it would have
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Video, private messaging, spam & content protections
He seems confident IG didn't *need* Meta to succeed
Not a lot of love lost here
Does Systrom regret selling at that price given how big IG has become? “Not necessarily…Sometimes you make a bet and it turns out well and I think Mark did that.”