Popular GIF hosting platform Giphy has been acquired by Facebook. Facebook has confirmed the deal in a blog post. Although both companies have confirmed the deal but none of them has disclosed the pricing of the deal. But according to Axios the deal the total deal value is around $400 million.
Facebook will eventually integrate Giphy with Instagram. “By bringing Instagram and Giphy together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct,” the company explained.
Facebook is already using Giphy’s API on the Facebook app, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. “In fact, 50% of Giphy’s traffic comes from the Facebook family of apps, half of that from Instagram alone,” Facebook said. Not only Facebook but other social media platform like Twitter, Pinterest, Slack, Reddit also use the Giphy. Facebook has said, “Developers and API partners will continue to have the same access to Giphy’s APIs”. Still, there will be a doubt as these platforms are direct competitors to Facebook.