A billion dollar green light: Facebook get the go-ahead in the UK for Instagram acquisition

The Office of Fair Trading has given Facebook's billion dollar bid for Instagram the green light after deciding not to refer it to the Competition Commission.
The decision brings Facebook a step closer to acquiring the photo-sharing phenomenon.

Gold medallist Bradley Wiggins posted this photo of himself on Instagram with the message 'Getting wasted at at St Pauls' after winning gold. Today, the OFT approved the sale of Instagram to Facebook

In April, a month before going public, Facebook sent shockwaves through the online world by announcing it was buying Instagram for $1bn (£637m).
The site has proved hugely popular, with over 50 million users, including dozens of celebrities such as Bradley Wiggins, above.
The OFT has since been investigating whether the merger would restrict people from using other apps or other sites.
There had been fears the takeover would prevent people from uploading pictures from Instagram to sites other than Facebook, or stop other photo sharing apps from uploading to Facebook.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was today given the go ahead by the OFT for a billion dollar purchase of photo site Instagram

'We examined this in light of them both offering social networking services, looking at potential competition in social networking services, and in the supply of photo apps and whether the merger might result in the merging parties limiting people from others using other apps or other sites,” an OFT spokesperson told The Next Web.
'In brief we concluded that there are several relatively strong competitors to Instagram which appear to pose a stronger constraint to Instagram than Facebook does.'
However, the Federal Trade Commission is also reviewing the merger, as it investigates any deal with a value greater than $68.2 million.
Facebook had originally said its purchase of Instagram would be finalised by June, but has moved that back to the end of this year.