Facebook to buy Giphy in reported $400 million deal
The popular GIF-making platform is joining the Instagram team.
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Facebook on Friday said it has agreed to buy popular GIF-making platform Giphy. The social networking giant said Giphy will join the company as part of the Instagram team.
"By bringing Instagram and GIPHY together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct," wrote Vishal Shah, Facebook's vice president of product, in a blog post.
Read more: How to make a GIF on your phone or computer
The deal is worth around $400 million, according to Axios, which earlier reported the acquisition. The two companies reportedly started talking about a partnership before the coronavirus pandemic.
We’re so excited to share some news – GIPHY has been acquired by @Facebook and is joining the @Instagram team! 🎉
— GIPHY (@GIPHY) May 15, 2020
Read more here: https://t.co/U6AYQ16cEQ pic.twitter.com/ATjEY1VK3K
Giphy said in a blog post that it's platform will remain "openly available to the wider ecosystem," and reassured people that the GIFs, stickers, emojis and other content that they've created won't disappear.
Facebook said plans to integrate Giphy's library of GIFs into Instagram and it other apps.