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action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/scienrds/scienceandnerds/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Source:https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/05\/23\/meta-sells-giphy-to-shutterstock-for-53m-after-uk-divestment-order\/<\/a><\/br> Meta has finally found a willing buyer for Giphy, the animated GIF search engine it acquired for $400 million<\/a> three years ago.<\/p>\n Shutterstock announced today<\/a> that it has entered into an agreement with Meta to buy Giphy in a transaction that \u201cconsists of $53 million of net cash paid at closing,\u201d meaning Facebook\u2019s parent company has recuperated just 13% of its money. Shutterstock said it expects the deal to close next month, with Meta also signing a commercial agreement to continue accessing Giphy\u2019s content across its product suite.<\/p>\n The announcement comes some seven months after the U.K.\u2019s antitrust authority issued a final order<\/a> for Meta to sell Giphy, on the grounds that the merger reduced dynamic competition. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had originally ordered the sale<\/a> way back in November, 2021, but the appeals process held things up<\/a> for the better part of another year.<\/p>\n In October last year, Meta confirmed it would drop any further appeals and reluctantly agreed to offload Giphy, but the formal divestment process didn\u2019t start until the CMA issued its final order<\/a> in January this year, which gave Meta a set period of time to sell its asset \u2014 TechCrunch is told that this was likely a six-month window, which meant that the clock was ticking for Meta to conclude a deal.<\/p>\n Conditions of the sale meant that Meta had to sell Giphy as a whole entity, rather than sell it off in pieces, and it had to find a legitimate buyer \u2014 a company that would keep Giphy going as a GIF search engine. The CMA also had the final say on who Meta could sell Giphy to.<\/p>\n The Meta \/ Giphy acquisition had been catapulted into the limelight again recently, after the CMA confirmed it was blocking Microsoft\u2019s megabucks Activision acquisition<\/a> at the end of April,\u00a0a decision that became even more prominent after the U.K.\u2019s European counterpart in Brussels greenlighted the deal three weeks later<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that the U.K. has adopted a tougher antitrust stance of late, and while Microsoft\u2019s $68.7 billion bid for Activision is an entirely different kettle of fish \u2014 one that likely will have more twists and turns as the case winds its way through the various appeals processes \u2014 it does seem like the U.K. is trying to make up for lost time after countless Big Tech acquisitions were ushered through the regulatory approval process more or less without question.<\/p>\n Shutterstock has made it clear that acquisitions were going to play a major part of its near-term roadmap, with CFO Jarrod Yahes saying back in February<\/a> that the company\u2019s goal was to extend into different content types. So Meta\u2019s situation in the U.K. with Giphy could not have come at a better time for Shutterstock, in terms of having the opportunity to buy a popular GIF platform at a knockdown price.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Indeed, Shutterstock was in a fairly strong bargaining position here. With most M&A scenarios, the seller will try to play as strong a hand as possible to get the highest price, but in this instance any prospective buyer knew that Meta\u2019s back was against the wall. Put simply, a fire sale was always a likely outcome, particularly given that Giphy was never really a strong business in its own right \u2014 its business value seemed to be more about helping existing platforms become stickier.<\/p>\n Tom Smith, a former legal director at the CMA who\u2019s now partner at London-based law firm Geradin Partners, said that Meta\u2019s predicament was entirely of its own making.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was Facebook\u2019s decision to complete the merger before getting CMA clearance,\u201d he said, adding that the U.K. is fairly unique in that companies are allowed to close mergers without regulatory clearance. But obviously problems can arise retrospectively if the authorities decide to take a closer look at the deal.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can complete your merger, but the trouble is, if you do complete your merger, you take the risk that the CMA will start investigating after the fact,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd make life difficult for you by making you keep the two companies separate, and possibly at the end of all that, make you sell the company you\u2019ve just bought.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nFollowing UK antitrust order, Meta sells Giphy to Shutterstock for $53M after buying it for $400M<\/br>
\n2023-05-23 22:33:39<\/br><\/p>\nThe GIF that keeps on giving<\/h2>\n