Instagram Brings In More Than a Quarter of Facebook Sales
- Unit generated about $20 billion in 2019, people familiar say
- Photo-sharing app has gained in importance since 2012 purchase
Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
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Instagram, the photo-sharing app Facebook Inc. acquired for $715 million in 2012, generated more than a quarter of the social-media company’s revenue last year, according to people familiar with the matter.
The app brought in about $20 billion in advertising revenue in 2019, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the figures aren’t public. That beats Google video unit YouTube, which recorded $15.1 billion in ad sales -- a number parent company Alphabet Inc. revealed Monday for the first time. Facebook declined to comment.