Shutterstock announced on Tuesday that Meta will sell Giphy to the stock photography company, ending Meta’s long-running battle over its acquisition.
The company will be sold for $53 million – a mega discount for Shutterstock as Meta bought it for $400 million back in 2020. However, according to Giphy, GIFs ‘have fallen out of fashion as a content form, with younger users, in particular, describing GIFs as ‘for boomers’ and ‘cringe’.
Giphy, a platform for finding animated photos in messaging apps, was already well-integrated into Meta’s ecosystem and a target for acquisition by the social media giant for years before Meta finally purchased it in 2020.
The final deal is expected to close in June, however, since the announcement – Shutterstock’s shares rose nearly 2%.
Though perhaps Shutterstock will begin charging users for the use of GIFs. In order to commercialize GIFs, Shutterstock might eventually attempt to restrict its re-publication in a manner similar to how it does with its conventional photographs. Although, branding and applying a Shutterstock watermark to every Giphy GIF on the internet could just help Shutterstock propel and make the most out of this deal.
Stay updated on all the latest influencer news and posts on Instagram by subscribing to the ITP Live newsletter below.