Facebook announced that it has officially acquired GIPHY, the platform famed for its massive library of animated images, or GIFs. The New York-based company was reportedly snatched up by the social network to the tune of US$400 million (~RM1.76 billion).
In its official statement, Facebook says that GIPHY will be absorbed and made a part of the brand’s Instagram division. That said, GIF library is expected to maintain its own branding, much in the same Facebook has allowed Instagram and its messaging service, WhatsApp, to operate with what is believed to be a relatively high level of autonomy.
Even before the acquisition, GIPHY was already widely used on Facebook and has been for the last several years. On that note, Facebook says that the status quo for uploading new GIFs to GIPHY’s servers remains the same. That goes for developers and API partners as well.
(Source: Facebook, Axios // Image: The Verge)