Google Acquires GIF Platform Tenor

Google is acquiring GIF platform Tenor. The companies announced the acquisition today, stating that Tenor will continue to operate as an independent brand under Google.

Tenor is one of the most popular GIF search platforms on mobile, with apps like WhatsApp using it as the default GIF provider. Tenor says the company reached 12 million searches per month earlier this year, and had over 300 million users in 2017. Tenor will continue to work as an independent company and its founders will continue to lead the team, but it will work with Google to speed up its growth.

“The acquisition will enable us to accelerate improvements to Tenor’s service for our users, API partners, content partners, and advertisers. Tenor will continue to operate as a separate brand to better serve you, and I will continue to lead the Tenor team alongside my co-founders Erick Hachenburg and Frank Nawabi,” Tenor’s CEO David McIntosh said in a blog post, announcing the acquisition.

The acquisition of Tenor could suggest Google is getting ready to include better GIF search features into its own search engine in the future. The acquisition probably isn’t only about accelerating Tenor’s growth, but Google is likely more interested in Tenor’s huge database of GIFs.