Giphy, a well-known website for animated pictures and videos, is being acquired by Shutterstock from Meta in a deal worth $53 million, the company revealed on Tuesday. After agreeing to sell Giphy owing to worries about competition, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, made this acquisition a few months later.
Giphy was purchased by Meta in 2020 for an alleged $400 million. The deal, however, ran into legal issues when the Competition and Markets Authority of Britain forced Meta to sell Giphy. Giphy’s purchase by Meta raised concerns that it would restrict competitors like Snapchat and Twitter from accessing its material.
The Competition and Markets Authority’s successful campaign was the first time a regulator successfully forced a US IT behemoth to sell an acquired company. Following this event, Giphy was purchased by Shutterstock, a top distributor of high-quality licenced pictures, videos, and music worldwide.
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Shutterstock anticipates the agreement to be signed next month, which caused its shares to rise up to 4% in premarket trading. Giphy’s impact to revenue, according to the firm, will be negligible this year. Beginning in 2024, they intend to put initiatives into place to increase Giphy’s revenue production.
Giphy’s vast content library features not only user-generated GIFs but also official submissions from renowned media companies like Disney and Netflix. With approximately 15 billion daily impressions, Giphy holds significant influence in the digital realm. By acquiring Giphy, Shutterstock aims to tap into its massive user base of around 1.7 billion daily users.
