Facebook bought the popular Giphy service last May. But CMA staff didn’t like it at the time, so in June he ordered the American company – then still named after the social network Facebook – not to include Giphy in its activities.
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Meta Platforms had to wait for the verdict practically until the end of this year, as the overwhelming verdict was issued by the British authorities on the last day of November. In it, the CMA demands that the American company Giphy sell.
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The Office staffed the verdict by saying that they feared “the effects of the merger on the competitive environment”. This does not only apply to social network users, but also to advertisers.
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“After consulting with interested companies and organizations – and assessing alternative solutions submitted by Facebook – the CMA concluded that its competition concerns could only be addressed by selling Gipha,” the CMA said in a statement.
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Facebook has not yet officially commented on the decision of the British authority.
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The financial terms of the Giphy service takeover are also unknown, ie how much Meta Platforms could now lose or gain from the sale. However, the Axios server has previously speculated that the value of the transaction was around $ 400 million, ie around nine billion crowns.
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