The Financial Times reported on Monday that the UK competition regulator is anticipated to ban Meta Platforms’ (FB.O) acquisition of online GIF site Giphy in the coming days.
According to the article, the Competition and Markets Authority is planning to overturn the purchase, which would be the first time the watchdog has revoked a Big Tech acquisition.
The regulator penalized Facebook, now Meta, 50.5 million pounds ($67.35 million) in October for breaking an order made after a probe into its purchase of Giphy, a GIF platform.
In May of last year, Facebook purchased Giphy, a website for creating and sharing animated images, or GIFs, in order to merge it with its Instagram photo-sharing program. Axios estimated the deal to be worth $400 million.
