Back in 2018, Mark Zuckerberg was already playing 4D chess with Meta’s future—like a grandmaster plotting moves three steps ahead. In a now-infamous email thread with execs, he tossed around the idea of spinning off Instagram. Fast forward to today, and that very thought is at the heart of the FTC’s antitrust case against Meta. CNBC and The New York Times spilled the tea this week, revealing Zuck’s almost prophetic vision. 😉
“I’m beginning to wonder whether spinning Instagram out is the only structure that will accomplish a number of important goals,” Zuckerberg mused. And get this—he even predicted the timeline with unsettling accuracy: “…we will be forced to spin out Instagram and perhaps WhatsApp in the next 5-10 years anyway.” Six years later, and bam, the prophecy’s unfolding.
Zuck’s testimony this week? Let’s just say it was a masterclass in corporate hindsight (with a side of humble pie). He defended scooping up Instagram as a no-brainer “build-vs.-buy” decision, casually admitting Facebook’s own Camera app was about as competitive as a potato. “Building a new app is hard,” he shrugged, probably thinking about Meta’s graveyard of failed projects—RIP, Slingshot.
The trial’s roots go back to a 2020 lawsuit zeroing in on Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram ($1B in 2012) and WhatsApp ($19B in 2014). If the FTC gets its way, Meta might have to say goodbye to one or both. And for some extra spice: a 2013 email showed Zuck telling execs to block ads from Asian rivals Kakao and WeChat, labeling them existential threats. Talk about playing hardball.
TL;DR: Zuck saw this coming from a mile away, but buying time doesn’t mean you can outrun destiny.
