Being forced to abandon an acquisition by a competition authority has a cost, not to mention the efforts made for nothing. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has indeed announced the resale of its compatriot Giphy, one of the big banks of mini-videos and animated GIF images, for 53 million dollars to the New York image bank Shutterstock . In 2020, Mark Zuckerberg’s company had paid 315 million the “king of the GIF”.
In October 2022, the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had struck a blow by forcing Meta to sell Giphy, although neither company is British. Isolating the UK from the consequences of the Giphy acquisition would have been more complex than simply abandoning the operation, for the global platforms within Meta (WhatsApp and Messenger, in addition to Facebook and Instagram).
A “big hit”
Not only did the CMA bend a Gafa in the midst of questioning their economic domination by buying start-ups when they become a little threatening, but it was the first time that a Silicon Valley giant had to undo a operation already in effect. The CMA had also previously ordered Facebook to pay 50 million pounds for having started to integrate the two groups while an investigation was underway.
Like emojis, GIFs – mini-snippets of films, animal videos, cartoons, etc. – are now very naturally integrated into online conversation, especially on social networks. They could be monetized the day advertisers choose to sponsor them.
Meta keeps its access
From a competitive perspective, there were concerns that Giphy would become less interoperable with other platforms. Others worried that Mark Zuckerberg’s company would harvest user data from Giphy when their GIFs are used elsewhere.
The acquisition of Shutterstock will be paid for in cash and credit facilities. A consolation prize for Meta, he will have access to the GIFs of this company created in 2013.
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