The announcement that Facebook was going to acquire Instagram, the company behind the popular photo altering and sharing software app, hit the Internet like a ton of bricks a month ago. The main reason was due to the whopping $1 billion price tag. Furthermore, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally handled the deal without telling the company's board of directors beforehand.
Now there's a new report that the acquisition could face a delay. The Financial Times (paid registration required) reports that the Federal Trade Commission has now launched a probe of the deal. Such an investigation could cause the acquisition to be delayed beyond the previously announced plan to close it by the end of the second quarter.
So far, neither Facebook nor the FTC have confirmed that such a probe is taking place. However, the Financial Times report, which cites unnamed sources, claims that the FTC has gone ahead and collected information from two unnamed competitors to Facebook as part of their probe.
For his part, Zuckerberg has already stated his continued enthusiasm for the Instagram deal. During the recent "road show" appearance in New York City to promote the upcoming Facebook IPO to investors, Zuckerberg stated, "I'd do it again" when asked about the Instagram purchase.
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