Shutterstock announced on Tuesday that it would purchase the animated image platform Giphy from Facebook’s parent company Meta. For Meta, which purchased Giphy for $315 million in 2020, the $53 million all-cash transaction results in a loss of nearly $262 million.
According to Technology News UK, the CMA issued a final order to Meta last year to sell the animated image app due to concerns that its ownership “creates a monopoly” and limits other social media platforms’ access to Giphy’s content. Meta appealed the first order in the autumn of 2021, and the final order was in October 2022, when Meta complied with the ruling and agreed to drop any further appeals. The CMA gave Meta a deadline to sell Giphy in January. According to Technology News UK, the timeline was likely a six-month window, implying that Meta was under pressure as the window approached its end.
Meta has also faced privacy-related pressures from the United Kingdom. On Monday, The tech giant was fined €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) for violating European Union privacy policies by transferring personal data from European users to the United States. Meta responded to the fine in a blog post, stating it plans to appeal the decision.
