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SAN FRANCISCO — The co-founders of Instagram are resigning their positions with the social media company.
Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said in a statement late Monday that he and Mike Krieger plan to leave the company in the next few weeks.
Krieger is chief technical officer. They founded the photo-sharing app in 2010 and sold it to Facebook in 2012 for about $1 billion.
There was no immediate word on why they chose to leave the company but Systrom says they plan to take time off to explore their creativity again.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called the two “extraordinary product leaders” in a statement to NBC News through a spokesman. “I’ve learned a lot working with them for the past six years and have really enjoyed it. I wish them all the best and I’m looking forward to seeing what they build next,” Zuckerberg said in the statement.
Instagram has seen explosive growth since its founding, with an estimated 1 billion monthly users and 2 million advertisers.