The real reason Facebook bought Giphy for $400 million

Facebook may want to turn Giphy into the next phase of its advertising business. But that probably isn’t its main ambition for the internet’s favorite GIF search engine.

When Facebook confirmed that it had acquired Giphy last week for a cool $400 million, the reasons weren’t immediately apparent. Giphy has only the seeds of an advertising business, and GIFs aren’t a revolutionary advertising product. Mark Zuckerberg has a habit of knowing where the puck is going, but his company will have some real work ahead of it to make Giphy an advertising powerhouse. Still, the purchase may be worth it just for the insights it could yield about what web platforms people are visiting and what they’re sharing there.

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