Yahoo acquires news platform AI Artifact from Instagram founders – April 2, 2024 at 6:48 PM

Yahoo said on Tuesday that it has acquired the artificial intelligence-powered news platform Artifact from the founders of Instagram and will integrate its technology into the US web services company's news and other sites.

The deal is a sign of continued pain for media startups struggling to boost revenue at a time when tech giants Alphabet and Meta Platforms account for the bulk of ad sales.

In January, Artifact said in a blog post that it was suspending its implementations because “the market opportunity is not large enough to justify further investment in this way.”

Yahoo, which also owns the news brands TechCrunch, Engadget and Yahoo Finance, said Artifact's AI recommendation engine and other features will help expand its news business and deliver personalized content to audiences.

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

Yahoo, which declined to disclose financial details, was purchased by private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion in 2021.

Artifact was launched in early 2023 by Systrom and Mike Krieger. They previously worked at Meta, then known as Facebook, after the company acquired Instagram in 2012.

The duo left Facebook's owner in late 2018, which prompted some

Media reports

It was later described as being due to their tense relationship with Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg and differences in their visions for Instagram.

Systrom and Krieger will work with Yahoo in an advisory role during this transition period, Yahoo said in a statement. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)