"Through the GIPHY acquisition, we are extending our audience touch points beyond primarily professional marketing and advertising use cases and expanding into casual conversations"

https://investor.shutterstock.com/news-releases/news-release-details/shutterstock-acquire-giphy-worlds-largest-gif-library-and-search

https://investor.shutterstock.com/static-files/2899adce-d747-4cc5-964f-8a2134df94c7

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-sells-giphy-53m-shutterstock-165241138.html

The blurbs include mention of Sponsored GIFs - which I assume means that while end users won't pay, companies will pay SS to create custom (brand-focused) GIFs, hoping for a viral moment.

If you can figure out what this word salad means, then you know how SS will make its $53 million back:

"We expect to execute against multiple monetization opportunities across advertising, content and distribution"

Some comments

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/23/meta-sells-giphy-to-shutterstock-for-53m-after-uk-divestment-order/

WSJ (paywall) "Shutterstock said it plans to fund the deal, slated to close in June, with cash on hand and its revolving credit facility, adding that Meta is entering into an API agreement to ensure continued access to Giphy�s content across its platform."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-parent-meta-agrees-to-sell-giphy-for-53-million-on-regulators-order-7b1c2ec6

https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/23/23734220/shutterstock-giphy-meta-cma-uk-antitrust

From The Verege article: "For Shutterstock, the deal will augment its content library, expanding it to include GIFs and Stickers. The company also said it would help its �generative AI and metadata strategy.� That�s a bit more vague, but Shutterstock is currently using generative AI to provide imagery to its customers. Acquiring Giphy�s substantial library could theoretically give Shutterstock reams of training data for future AI-based products."

From the Variety story "This is an exciting next step in Shutterstock�s journey as an end-to-end creative platform..."
https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/giphy-sold-meta-shutterstock-1235622548/

From Engadget: " "This may affect Shutterstock's customers, though. Chief executive Paul Hennessy hopes Giphy will help commercialize Shutterstock's GIF collection � don't be surprised if animated images play a prominent role in Shutterstock's offerings."

https://www.engadget.com/metas-paid-verification-system-comes-to-the-uk-162523922.html

I was going to comment but then I realized I no longer care what those corporate goof balls do any more.