Giphy

History

2023: Meta sold Giphy for $53m

On May 23, 2023, the American company Shutterstock announced the acquisition of Giphy, a service that allows users to search and share animated files in GIF format.

The Giphy platform, combining the functions of a database and a search engine, was founded by Alex Chung and Jake Cooke in February 2013. Giphy is estimated to receive more than 1.3 billion searches per day, and images of the service gain approximately 15 billion impressions every day. Giphy is a major provider of animated files to a number of major social media platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok and Twitter.

Shutterstock acquires Giphy

In 2020, the Giphy project was sold for $400 million to Meta Platforms (recognized in Russia as an extremist organization; activities on the territory of the Russian Federation are prohibited). However, the British Competition Protection and Markets Authority (CMA) later concluded that this deal would worsen the competitive environment. Following the investigation, the regulator ordered Meta to sell the Giphy service, but this decision was appealed. The consideration of the case was delayed, but in October 2022, Meta agreed to comply with the decision of the CMA.

Under the terms of the signed agreement, Shutterstock will pay $53 million in cash for Giphy. The deal is scheduled to close in June 2023, subject to the usual terms of such transactions. The acquisition is expected to allow Shutterstock to significantly expand its content library: Giphy's base is replenished not only by ordinary users, but also by media partners, including NBC, Disney, Netflix, NFL, MLB and NBA. After the assets are transferred, Meta will still be able to access Giphy content and use it on its social platforms. Giphy is expected to have minimal impact on Shutterstock's 2023 revenue, with targeted monetization efforts underway throughout 2024.^[1]

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