Shutterstock acquires GIPHY from Meta for $53 Million following UK regulator order to sell

Shutterstock , the popular stock image and video provider, has announced its acquisition of GIPHY from Meta for $53 million in cash. Meta, the parent company of Facebook , had acquired GIPHY in 2020 for a whopping $400 million. However, the UK competition regulator ordered Meta to sell it in 2021 as the takeover would have unfairly cemented Meta's market dominance.

As part of the acquisition deal, Meta has entered into an "API agreement" which ensures that Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram will continue to support GIPHY content. This means that users of these platforms will still be able to use the popular GIFs and stickers from GIPHY.

Through the acquisition, Shutterstock is expanding its audience from professional marketing and advertising to casual conversations. GIPHY is a popular platform for sharing GIFs and stickers on social media and messaging platforms, and this acquisition will allow Shutterstock to tap into this market.

Furthermore, more moves are planned: Shutterstock has been investing heavily in AI and metadata technology to improve its search and discovery capabilities and with GIPHY's vast library of GIFs and stickers, the company can enhance its AI capabilities and improve its metadata strategy.

With the addition of GIPHY's content, Shutterstock is expected to bring in a new wave of users to the platform and is set to become a one-stop-shop for all things visual, from stock images and videos to GIFs and stickers.