Facebook is buying GIF-making and sharing website Giphy for a reported $400 million USD (roughly $563 million CAD).
News regarding the deal was first reported by Axios, which also states that Facebook is planning to integrate Giphy into Instagram and its other apps.
Under Facebook, Giphy will be part of Instagram to make it easier to share GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct Messages. Facebook states that as of right now, everything will remain the same for current Giphy users.
Platforms like Twitter, Pinterest, Slack, Reddit, and more rely on Giphy for GIF sharing. While those services seem like they’ll still be able to rely on Giphy for now, there might be significant changes coming in the future given the platforms compete directly with Facebook’s apps.
Giphy has one of the largest GIF libraries on the internet. It offers tools to create, share, and revamp GIFs. Like the companies mentioned above, Facebook also uses the Giphy API for its main app, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
According to Facebook, 50 percent of Giphy’s traffic comes from its apps, and half of that is just from Instagram.
Source: Facebook
