Instagram head Adam Mosseri with Instagram cofounders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
- Instagram generated $20 billion in ad revenue in 2019, according to a new Bloomberg report.
- The figure highlights Instagram's unprecedented importance to the future of Facebook.
- Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, and it has since grown into a cash-printing powerhouse.
- It now makes up more than a quarter of Facebook's total revenues.
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Instagram is an increasingly core part of Facebook's business - and new report quantifies that for the first time.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Instagram generated $20 billion in revenue in 2019, more than a quarter of its parent company's total revenue for the year.
The figure underscores the extraordinary success of the photo-sharing app since Facebook acquired it in 2012, growing from a revenue-less app to a cash-generating powerhouse that plays a key role in Facebook's "family of apps" strategy and the future of the business.
In total, Facebook generated around $70.7 billion in revenue in 2019 - almost all of that from advertising. It's not clear how Instagram's profit margins compare to that of the core Facebook app.
An Instagram spokesperson declined to comment to Business Insider.
The figure also indicates that Instagram is now generating even more money than Google's video platform YouTube. Google releases ad revenue data for YouTube for the first time on Monday, revealing it brought in $15 billion in revenue in 2019.
Facebook paid $1 billion in cash and stock to acquire Instagram in 2012, but is now estimated to be worth many, many times that. In 2018, Instagram was estimated to be have a theoretical valuation of more than $100 billion, and it is certain to be worth more than that in 2020.
The app was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and they left in 2018 as Facebook worked to integrated the platform more closely with its other products. Adam Mosseri, a confidante of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, was appointed its new head, and its upper ranks now include multiple veteran Facebook executives.
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