Meta Platforms has sold Giphy to Shutterstock for $53 million marking a significant loss for Meta which reportedly paid $315 million for New York-based Giphy in 2020.
The all-cash deal is expected to close in June and comes after the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority ordered Meta to divest Giphy in 2022, citing potential anti-competitive issues.
According to Shutterstock, Giphy’s library of GIFs and stickers draws more than 1.3 billion search queries on a daily basis and powers more than 15 billion daily media impressions.
The company added that the deal adds a mobile content platform with 1.7 billion daily users and global partners including Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Microsoft, TikTok, Samsung, Twitter, Slack, and Discord
“This is an exciting next step in Shutterstock’s journey as an end-to-end creative platform,” said Shutterstock CEO Paul Hennessy.
“Shutterstock is in the business of helping people and brands tell their stories. Through the GIPHY acquisition, we are extending our audience touch points beyond primarily professional marketing and advertising use cases and expanding into casual conversations.
