The real genius is, he left it alone and gave it autonomy. That in contrast to Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo that can't seem to resist the allure of 'synergy'.
I bet most people don't even know Instagram is owned by facebook.
I bet most people don't even know Instagram is owned by facebook.
The real genius is, accurately evaluating if the teams are able to be left alone, with autonomy. And then moving on that accurate evaluation with quickness, and efficiency.
If that's leave them alone, then integrate them with HR/etc, and let them be autonomous. If that's integrate fast, and heavy, then immediately start having regular working meetings with teams in other locations to limit the little brother syndrome of acquisitions.
But getting the path right, is the genius in my view. It isn't as simple as always leaving the teams alone.
http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoos-plan-to-combine-its-sa...
But anyway Yahoo didn't ruin Tumblr and that's a thing to be grateful for.
Despite being an M&A buzzword, synergy is really important and doesn't mean meddling or interference. With Instagram and Facebook, consider that FB already had massive expertise in growing a successful social network, and ditto regarding infrastructure, as well as monetization. FB also advertises Instagram in-app for free. And Instagram is "cool" so there's major motivation for talented people at FB to do an internal transfer to Instagram.
Similar situation with YouTube and Google. e.g., Google was undoubtedly able to increase YouTube's growth rate by virtue of being the top search engine and tightly integrating all YouTube content into Google search.
With Tumblr and Yahoo, it's just not the same situation. They aren't headquartered on the same coast; their audiences don't overlap, which is especially bad for monetization; their products don't naturally interact in any way; the parent company has no experience with running a user-generated content property of this size; and the parent company has been viewed as being in decline for many years.
Instagram is not dying slowly, it's actually growing rapidly.
If you look at how messaging has become the primary monetization platform in China, I would argue that WhatsApp is much more critical to Facebook's long term success globally than Instagram.
And the MO seems the same from my outsider perspective - they were mostly left alone till very recently.
It was turned upside down.
The old main feature: pay-a-reasonable-fee-to-chat-privately was taken behind the barn and shot dead.
I and my friends have now moved almost every group I was a member of over to Telegram (there is one left). And yes I know Whatsapp might have stronger encryption but for us that doesn't matter.