On Tuesday, Yahoo announced its acquisition of Artifact, an AI-driven news platform founded by the co-founders of Instagram. The deal involves incorporating Artifact’s technology into Yahoo’s news and other web services across the United States.
This acquisition comes amidst ongoing challenges for media start-ups, which often struggle to generate revenue in the shadow of tech giants like Alphabet and Meta Platforms, which dominate the advertising market.
Earlier in January, Artifact announced its decision to wind down operations of its app, citing insufficient market opportunity to justify continued investment.
Yahoo, which boasts news brands like TechCrunch, Engadget, and Yahoo Finance, sees potential in Artifact’s AI-powered recommendation engine and plans to leverage its features to enhance its news operations and deliver personalized content to its audience.
In addition to this acquisition, Yahoo also holds a minority stake in the content recommendation platform Taboola.
While financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, Yahoo’s move comes after it was acquired by private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion in 2021.
Artifact was established in early 2023 by Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, who previously worked at Meta (formerly Facebook) after Instagram’s acquisition in 2012.
Systrom and Krieger departed Meta in late 2018, reportedly due to strained relations with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and differences in their visions for Instagram.
As part of the acquisition, Systrom and Krieger will serve in advisory roles during the transition period, according to Yahoo’s statement.
