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After UK Order Meta Sells Giphy To Shutterstock

By  |  May 23, 2023

On Tuesday, Shutterstock announced its acquisition of Giphy, an animated images platform, from Meta Platforms Inc for $53 million in cash. This purchase comes several months after the Facebook owner agreed to divest the company due to competition concerns, reported Axios. 

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    Last year, Britain’s competition regulator instructed Meta to divest Giphy due to concerns that it could restrict access to the platform’s content for competitors such as Snapchat Inc and Twitter.

    Meta acquired New York-based Giphy in 2020 for $400 million. The deal was later challenged by Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority, resulting in the first successful campaign by a regulator to force a U.S. tech giant to sell an already acquired company.

    Shutterstock’s shares experienced a premarket increase of up to 4%, as the company anticipates the closure of their deal next month.

    Related: UK Closes Collusion Case Against Google & Meta

    The company stated that Giphy’s contribution to revenue for the current year would be minimal, and they plan to implement strategies to boost revenue starting from 2024.

    Shutterstock CEO Paul Hennessy stated that this marks an exciting progression in the company’s evolution as a comprehensive creative platform.

    Giphy has a large collection of animated images, known as GIFs, as well as web-based stickers, which are used on various platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Microsoft Teams.

    The content of the platform includes official submissions from media companies like Disney and Netflix, and receives 15 billion daily impressions.