“Giphy Swap: Meta Kisses Goodbye to $260m 💸 in Shutterstock Deal—Time to Call it a ‘Boomer’ Moment? 🤔”
TL;DR:
Meta (the Facebook mastermind) traded in Giphy, but let’s be real here, it wasn’t a sweet deal. They bought Giphy for $315m in 2021 but were forced to sell it to Shutterstock for only $53m—a hefty $260m loss, folks. Regulators in the UK said “uh-uh, not on our watch,” blocking the purchase in 2022. But wait, is the gif game over, or is Meta just being a sour grape? 🍇😂
Looks like Meta is playing the world’s worst game of Monopoly, folks, selling off Giphy to Shutterstock and racking up a whopper of a $260m loss. This comes after UK’s competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), blocked the deal last year.
Now, Shutterstock, on the other hand, is licking their lips after scoring Giphy for a song—a cool $53m in cash. They’ll now be integrating the gif search engine with their stock image service, hoping to slide into those casual conversations with some fun gif content. Talk about moving up in the world, eh? 🎢💫
Meta’s big boss did warn that Giphy was on shaky grounds as an independent business, even going as far as to suggest that the gif game is becoming a ‘Boomer’ trend. Youngsters are allegedly calling gifs ‘cringe’ now. Well, guess the tide is turning faster than we thought, huh? 🌊👀
So, where does this leave Meta, our fallen gif hero? Sure, they purchased Giphy at a cut-price deal—significantly less than Giphy’s peak valuation of about $600m in 2016. But let’s face it, a loss is a loss, even if it comes wrapped in silver paper and a bow. 🎁💔
Now, the big players, Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Bytedance, Kauishou, Snap, and Twitter, did express interest in Giphy, but the talks never got past the small talk phase. Shutterstock, the daring suitor, did clinch the deal, although they accept that it might not be a gold rush in the short term. They predict Giphy to add minimal revenue in 2023 and plan to focus on monetizing efforts over the course of 2024. Time will tell, won’t it? ⏰💰
On that note, we do have to wonder—does this mean that gifs are slowly becoming an online relic? Or is it just that Meta failed to make the most of the acquisition, proving that even the big guys can have off days? 🤷
Just remember, we’re just the messenger. 📰✌️This isn’t a recommendation, nor an endorsement of anyone’s business strategies. Always do your own research, and don’t take investment decisions based on what you read in a fun news story. 😉😊
Now, here’s a thought to chew on: Given Meta’s recent loss, could this be a sign of bigger problems within the company, or is it just a minor bump in the road to internet domination? What do you think? Is the gif era truly over, or is there still room for resurgence? Could Giphy find a new lease on life under Shutterstock’s wing? 👇🔥
