Meta, the parent company of popular platforms like Facebook and Instagram, has finally sold GIPHY, the well-known animated GIF search engine, for $53 million. The acquisition of GIPHY by Meta three years ago was valued at a whopping $400 million.
A photo of the META logo during the US social network Instagram opening on a tablet screen in Moscow on November 11, 2021. - Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg announced the parent company's name is being changed to "Meta" to represent a future beyond just its troubled social network.
Who Bought GIPHY?
Shutterstock has announced its definitive agreement to buy GIPHY from Meta. GIPHY is widely recognized as the largest collection of GIFs and stickers, providing casual conversational content.
GIPHY boasts an extensive library of GIFs and stickers that receive over 1.3 billion daily search queries, generating more than 15 billion media impressions.
GIPHY's wide range of content plays a significant role in text- and message-based conversations across various platforms. It utilizes over 14,000 API/SDK integrations and its website and mobile app to distribute its impressions effectively.
The GIF tool is integrated with platforms like Meta, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and others, providing users with a seamless experience across most mobile devices.
GIPHY's content library benefits from a diverse range of contributors, including individual artists and verified media partners like NBC, Disney, Netflix, NFL, MLB, and NBA.
This collaborative effort ensures continuous availability of culturally relevant content that can be easily incorporated into everyday conversations and shared through social media platforms.
Shutterstock CEO Paul Hennessy expressed his enthusiasm about the acquisition, stating that it marks an exciting milestone for Shutterstock as an end-to-end creative platform.
"Shutterstock is in the business of helping people and brands tell their stories. Through the GIPHY acquisition, we are extending our audience touch points beyond primarily professional marketing and advertising use cases and expanding into casual conversations. GIPHY enables everyday users to express themselves in memorable ways with GIF and sticker content while also enabling brands to be a part of these casual conversations. "
"We plan to leverage Shutterstock's unique capabilities in content and metadata monetization, generative AI, studio production and creative automation to enable the commercialization of our GIF library as we roll this offering out to customers."
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Final Order
The announcement follows the UK's antitrust authority's final order for Meta to sell GIPHY, citing concerns about reduced competition due to the merger. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had initially issued the order in November 2021, but the appeals process prolonged the divestment.
Meta eventually agreed to offload Giphy in October of the previous year, and the formal divestment process began when the CMA issued its final order in January.
The sale of Giphy by Meta for $53 million signifies the culmination of a lengthy process driven by regulatory requirements. With this transaction, Shutterstock is poised to tap into the extensive user base and creative potential of GIPHY, expanding its offerings as a comprehensive creative platform.
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