The CMA Orders Meta to Sell Giphy

NOV 30 2021 · 12:00

Walking away. The UK Competition and Markets Authority's Phase 2 report on 30 November 2021 ordered Meta to divest Giphy in full. Place: UK Competition and Markets Authority, Canary Wharf, London Figures: Stuart McIntosh, CMA inquiry chair · Andrea Coscelli, then CMA chief executive The UK Competition and Markets Authority opens its investigation of Meta's $400 million Giphy acquisition in June 2020, two weeks after the deal closes. The CMA's Phase 2 inquiry report, published 30 November 2021, concludes that the merger would substantially lessen competition in two markets: UK display advertising (where Giphy had been developing a paid-search business that Meta extinguished post-acquisition) and the worldwide supply of animated content to messaging platforms. The remedy is unconditional divestiture. Meta is ordered to sell Giphy in full, to a buyer approved by the CMA, with no behavioral remedies considered sufficient. It is the first time a non-US regulator has forced the complete unwind of a major US Big Tech acquisition.