After so many twists and turns, Giphy already has a new owner. Today met that Shutterstockthe famous provider of photos, music and videos, bought the platform of GIFs that belonged briefly to Goal. However, the most striking thing about the announcement has been the price for which the transaction has been closed, since it is derisory.
Shutterstock will only pay 53 million dollars by Giphy, a considerably lower figure than those of Mark Zuckerberg disbursed in May 2020. Let us remember that, although the sum was never made official, it was said that Californians had paid 400 million dollars
This means that, three years later and after multiple lawsuits, those of Menlo Park they will recover only 13.25% of the investment. It’s clear, then, that Shutterstock is taking Giphy at a bargain price and cashing in on one of Meta’s biggest flops in recent years.
“Through the purchase of Giphy, we are expanding our audience touchpoints beyond primarily professional advertising and marketing use cases and expanding into 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 library of GIFs as we roll out this offering to clients,” said Paul Hennessy, CEO of Shutterstock .
Giphy passes into the hands of Shutterstock
The purchase of Giphy is, without a doubt, one of the great failures of Meta in recent years. Let’s remember that the acquisition was blocked by the CMA of the United Kingdom, which led to an extensive legal battle against those of Mark Zuckerberg. According to British regulators, the transaction was anti-competitive and would have a negative impact on competition between social networks.
From the Competition and Market Authority they assured that, if the agreement is finalized, Meta could prevent other platforms such as Twitter, TikTok or Snapchat, from accessing the Giphy GIF catalog. But the story did not end there, since they also believed that Californians would gain an even greater advantage than they already had in the digital display advertising market.
After a multi-month novel, Meta threw in the towel in November 2022 and agreed to sell Giphy. Since then, not much more has been known about it, since the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram had to start the divestment process. And among so many steps to follow, she had to find a buyer who would get the approval of the authorities. Thus, the appearance of Shutterstock has been surprisingand the same can be said for the ridiculous amount you will pay for such a coveted company.
Beyond the $53 million he will receive, the terms of the deal imply that Meta was rushing to part with Giphy. According to the announcement, the purchase is expected to be completed in June 2023. That is, next month. It is impossible not to think, then, that with this transaction Zuck’s only seek to get rid of a problem.
Despite the sale, Meta has agreed to maintain access to the GIF platform API in all of its applications. Shutterstock, meanwhile, does not expect Giphy to generate relevant revenue this year, but aspires to start its monetization process in 2024.