Facebook buys Giphy for $400M

Facebook on Friday purchased online image database and search engine Giphy for $400 million.

Giphy's website allows anyone to search for GIF image files, or moving images that play on a loop. GIFs are popular on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and are often used to respond to express emotion through an image rather than words.

"A lot of people in our community already know and love GIPHY," Facebook Vice President of Product Vishal Shah said in a Friday blog post. "In fact, 50 percent of GIPHY’s traffic comes from the Facebook family of apps, half of that from Instagram alone. By bringing Instagram and GIPHY together, we can make it easier for people to find the perfect GIFs and stickers in Stories and Direct."