The latest move of Yahoo is definitely exciting. It is the acquisition of Artifact, which is a cutting-edge news platform created by the minds behind Instagram. The step is strategic and aims to leverage advanced technology of Artifact to enrich its news as well as online services across the United States.
The acquisition sheds light on the challenges usually faced by the emerging media ventures with respect to revenue generation. The challenges are basically due to the domination of tech giants like Alphabet and Meta in the advertising landscape.
Artifact was founded in 2023 and lately it announced to shut down its operations due to limited market prospects for its app. Yahoo sees potential in integrating its AI-powered recommendations engine. Hence, it acquired the company as it is believed the move may elevate scalability as well as offer personalized content delivery. Yahoo is also a parent company of some renowned news outlets including TechCrunch and Engadget.
Yahoo has not disclosed the financial terms of the acquisition. It is worth taking a note here that the company holds a minority stake in Taboola, which is a content recommendation platform. Yahoo itself underwent a significant change in 2021 when it was acquired by the private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion.
Artifact co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger were earlier executives at Meta and their departure in 2018 was attributed to differences with Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg with respect to the future direction of Instagram.
It is learned that the two will provide advisory support to Yahoo during the transition period.
Yahoo’s move to integrate AI highlights its commitment to delivering enhanced news experiences to its audience.
