Facebook-Giphy sale shows how fear of regulators is slowing M&A market

In 2020, a top Meta executive explained the company spent $315 million acquiring Giphy “because it’s a great service that needed a home.” Instagram chief Adam Mosseri touted Giphy’s “amazing team” and “expressive” userbase, and stressed Giphy’s user data was “not the motivation.”

Earlier this week, Meta sold Giphy to Shutterstock for $53 million, an eye-watering 83%…