Reporters can
easily get carried away in characterizing mergers and acquisitions in business.Regarding eBay
buying PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion, Google purchasing YouTube in 2006 for
$1.65 billion, and Facebook acquiring Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion,
expanding in the technology sector can be viewed as buying technology as a
product rather than acquiring another company. Accordingly, the fact that
Instagram had not earned any revenue is irrelevant.
The full essay is at "Taking the Face Off Facebook."