money Facebook buys Giphy for $400 million, will integrate it with Instagram
On Friday, Facebook announced that it bought picture platform Giphy. Yahoo Finance’s Dan Roberts shares the latest details.
Video Transcript
ADAM SHAPIRO: Welcome back to "On the Move." Facebook confirmed in a blog post that they're buying Giphy. But, Dan Roberts, will Facebook ruin Giphy?
DAN ROBERTS: I believe that down the road, that is a very legitimate fear. Yes, Adam. My first reaction to the news was, well, goodbye, Giphy. Now Facebook, in the blog post, is happy to say, you know, the point of buying this company-- and by the way, the price is reportedly for $400 million-- is to integrate it with Instagram and other apps.
And Facebook also saying, don't worry. You know, other platforms that plug in to Giphy's API will still be able to do so. So platforms like Twitter, Slack, Reddit-- which all rely on Giphy. So of course, Facebook is saying that for now, but I think there's a tough track record of companies selling to Facebook and eventually being lost in the shuffle. I think Oculus VR is probably the best example.
And there's a great book that I reviewed last year on "Yahoo Finance" called "The History of Everything" that is about the Oculus sale to Facebook. Man, Facebook quashed a lot of the innovation there. But the jury's out. But I wouldn't blame people whose first reaction is, mm, Giphy is not going to look like the Giphy I know and love in six months to a year.
ADAM SHAPIRO: Dan Roberts, a lot of us use Giphy right here at "Yahoo Finance." Thank you.
