Yahoo Acquires Instagram Co-Founders' AI News Platform Artifact

In January, Artifact said in a blogpost it would wind down operations of its app.

By Reuters | Updated: 3 April 2024 16:42 IST

Yahoo Acquires Instagram Co-Founders' AI News Platform Artifact

Photo Credit: Kevin Systrom/Twitter

Artifact launched in February 2023

Highlights

Yahoo also owns news brands TechCrunch and Engadget
Yahoo declined to share financial details of the deal
Systrom and Krieger will work with Yahoo in an advisory capacity

Yahoo said on Tuesday it had acquired Instagram co-founders' AI-driven news platform, Artifact, and will incorporate its technology across the US web services provider's news and other sites.

The deal signals continued pain for media start-ups struggling to grow revenue at a time when Big Tech giants Alphabet and Meta Platforms attract the bulk of advertising sales.

In January, Artifact said in a blogpost it would wind down operations of its app as "the market opportunity isn't big enough to warrant continued investment in this way."

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

Yahoo, which also owns news brands TechCrunch, Engadget and Yahoo Finance, said Artifact's AI-powered recommendation engine and other features will help scale its news operations and deliver personalized content to audience.

The online publisher also owns a minority stake in content recommendation platform Taboola.

Yahoo, which declined to share financial details, was bought out by private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion (roughly Rs. 41,730 crore) in 2021.

Artifact was launched in early 2023 by Systrom and Mike Krieger. They were earlier at Meta, then known as Facebook, after the company's acquisition of Instagram in 2012.

The duo had left the Facebook owner in late 2018, which some media reports later described as due to their strained relationship with Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and differences in their visions for Instagram.

Systrom and Krieger will work with Yahoo in an advisory capacity during this transition, Yahoo said in a statement.

From the launch of the Infinix GT 10 Pro to Amazon's latest mega-sale, we discuss the most noteworthy technology news events of the week on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.