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Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

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Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#421

Post by [deleted] »

wfleming wrote: post #174
Freak_NL wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't grok this trend at all. All these replies in the form of memes make me feel like I'm in the Darmok episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I'm grateful communication on MatterMost at my company has not seen the need for reaction gifs emerge; the wildest thing we have is a custom emoji of a dancing banana.

I don't disagree, but as an aside I think the references to that Star Trek episode (which I've been seeing a lot lately) is interesting. I find it amusingly ironic that the most effective way to describe the growing tendency to communicate mainly in cultural references is... a cultural reference.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#422

Post by thebradbain »

nimish wrote: post #348
raiyu wrote: post #166

Last private raise - https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/31/giphy-the-platform-for-all... - $600MM - $150MM raised - $400MM sale price - $400MM - $150MM 1x preferred = $250MM (assuming not ratchet up for selling below last preferred price) - $250MM net to shareholders. - 50% for preferred investor share holders - 25% to founders - 25% to individual contributors - 25% of $250MM = $62.5MM These are all just estimates

I wonder what happened to employees who joined later on, with underwater options.

Why would any of their options be underwater? Going off of those estimates above, the pot split between shareholders after liquidation preference is 250million. Anyone who has shares is able to cash them out I imagine (how much profit dependent on how many shares someone is granted, which varies obviously but is still a positive net) — unless you’re implying the strike price is less than the share value?

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#423

Post by adjkant »

winrid wrote: post #242
l1ghthouse wrote: post #129

Users: time to delete your accounts :P Developers: Time to remove the Giphy integrations from your apps/services.

Haven't they already been selling the data?

My guess/suspicion is that in isolation the data's depth is pretty tame. The issue is when all the nitty gritty data is then tied with Facebook's.

IMO the bigger issue is that anyone integrating with them basically is telling Facebook about their app's usage stats now, which makes it easy for Facebook to see current and future competition as well as any emerging markets they can sink their fangs into. Adding Giphy is a great way to get your lunch eaten now as a startup in any remotely competitive space to Facebook.

To me it's kind of wild this type of acquisition doesn't violate some law (though not surprising) as this gives immediate historical data insight into dozens of direct competitors even if they stop integrating in the future.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#424

Post by adjkant »

So Facebook basically just bought inside usage info on a ton of direct competition, even if they stop their integration in the future.

Messaging: Signal, GroupMe, Telegram, Viber

Social Media: Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit, Pinterest, Tiktok

Dating: Bumble, Tinder

Video: Skype

Does anyone else kind of feel weirded out that this isn't illegal? Not surprising legally or for a move for Facebook, but this just feels incredibly wrong.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#425

Post by throwaway4715 »

volkk wrote: post #6

Congrats to giphy I guess? But I'll be honest, any time I've ever used them as an extension in slack or anywhere, and tried to get relevant gifs, I got back some really bad results. I'll never fully understand why they're so successful short of just dominating the market through sheer popularity. I remember switching our team over to rightgif and the difference was astounding given the fact that giphy has millions up…

Acquisition seems to make sense then. Facebook can fix search easily with their tech and Giphy already has the reach.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#426

Post by throwaway4715 »

adjkant wrote: post #424

So Facebook basically just bought inside usage info on a ton of direct competition, even if they stop their integration in the future. Messaging: Signal, GroupMe, Telegram, Viber Social Media: Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit, Pinterest, Tiktok Dating: Bumble, Tinder Video: Skype Does anyone else kind of feel weirded out that this isn't illegal? Not surprising legally or for a move for Facebook, but this just feels incredib…

Are you saying that Facebook shouldn't be allowed to own any product that can be shared on a competitors platform? Seems kinda ridiculous.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#427

Post by adjkant »

throwaway4715 wrote: post #426
adjkant wrote: post #424

So Facebook basically just bought inside usage info on a ton of direct competition, even if they stop their integration in the future. Messaging: Signal, GroupMe, Telegram, Viber Social Media: Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit, Pinterest, Tiktok Dating: Bumble, Tinder Video: Skype Does anyone else kind of feel weirded out that this isn't illegal? Not surprising legally or for a move for Facebook, but this just feels incredib…

Are you saying that Facebook shouldn't be allowed to own any product that can be shared on a competitors platform? Seems kinda ridiculous.

No, I am saying that them retroactively buying it without warning and getting access to the historical data, which users and developers did not intend to give to Facebook, is the off part.

If Facebook bought this or developed it themselves and then these companies integrated Giphy, it's obviously very different. Basically this implies that any data you give to any third party can then basically be bought by your competition. I think legal language that prevents this would likely be a net good thing. I of course realize it's fair game, but that seems like a great way to discourage the use of any third parties generally.

The acquisition itself is very valid from a product standpoint, but I suspect a big reason for the buy was that data on competitors as Facebook claws back against pressure from rising platforms. I would bet a good deal of money this will be used to inform future acquisitions and fuel the black hole of Facebook acquisitions and squashing of any competitors.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#428

Post by ghaff »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #387
Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Comprehend” works, in British English at least.

It's more "fully comprehend all aspects". You could also say "get" or "understand" or "know" as synonyms for comprehend (in the right context). Grok works in English, I've been reading it for, what, 20 years in English texts. It mightn't be in dictionaries but they're not the sole arbiters of language. It comes from US English, AFAIK, a neonym from Heinlein (the sci-fi writer).

I believe it's in both Oxford and Merriam-Webster.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#429

Post by rajacombinator »

volkk wrote: post #6

Congrats to giphy I guess? But I'll be honest, any time I've ever used them as an extension in slack or anywhere, and tried to get relevant gifs, I got back some really bad results. I'll never fully understand why they're so successful short of just dominating the market through sheer popularity. I remember switching our team over to rightgif and the difference was astounding given the fact that giphy has millions up…

Yep terrible product that made the internet worse. Wish Google bought them so we would know it will be shut down.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#430

Post by ascotan »

txcwpalpha wrote: post #17
volkk wrote: post #6

Congrats to giphy I guess? But I'll be honest, any time I've ever used them as an extension in slack or anywhere, and tried to get relevant gifs, I got back some really bad results. I'll never fully understand why they're so successful short of just dominating the market through sheer popularity. I remember switching our team over to rightgif and the difference was astounding given the fact that giphy has millions up…

I've always thought part of the "charm" of Giphy in Slack is that does give you those somewhat silly or "not exactly what I was looking for but actually this is funnier" type of GIFs. The couple of times I have tried to use it to search for a very specific GIF (like searching for a specific clip from a movie) it hasn't really worked, but whenever I use it for more general stuff like "/giphy cardio sucks" or "/giphy h…

The charm of /giphy is that it returns seemingly random nonsensical results from whatever you type in.
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