Facebook on Friday announced that it has acquired the popular GIF-making and sharing website, Giphy and its plan is to integrate the Giphy library into Facebook’s various platforms, including Instagram.
While the financial terms of the agreement were not revealed, according to Axios, who first reported the news, estimates the deal to be valued at around $400 million. Apparently, the companies were already in talks even before the COVID-19 pandemic started, says the report.
For those unaware, Giphy, styled as GIPHY, is an American online database and search engine that allows users to search for and share short looping videos with no sound, that resemble animated GIF files. Facebook already uses Giphy’s API to provide GIFs to Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
“A lot of people in our community already know and love Giphy. In fact, 50% of GIPHY’s traffic comes from the Facebook family of apps, half of that from Instagram alone,” Vishal Shah, Instagram’s VP of product, wrote in a blog post announcing the news.
“By bringing Instagram and Giphy together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct. Both our services are big supporters of the creator and artist community, and that will continue. Together, we can make it easier for anyone to create and share their work with the world.”
Giphy will continue to operate its library (including its global content collection) independently of Facebook. Also, its current integrations with social platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Slack and Reddit that use Giphy would not change. Further, Facebook will invest in the company’s technology and relationships with content and API partners.
“People will still be able to upload GIFs; developers and API partners will continue to have the same access to Giphy’s APIs; and Giphy’s creative community will still be able to create great content,” Shah added.
“GIFs and stickers give people meaningful and creative ways to express themselves. We see the positivity in how people use GIPHY in our products today, and we know that bringing the GIPHY team’s creativity and talent together with ours will only accelerate how people use visual communication to connect with each other.”
