Yahoo has purchased Artifact, an AI news platform created by the co-founders of Instagram.
In January, Artifact said in a blogpost it would wind down operations of its app.
On Tuesday, Yahoo announced its acquisition of Artifact, an AI-driven news platform founded by Instagram co-founders. Yahoo plans to integrate Artifact’s technology into its news and other websites across the United States. This acquisition reflects ongoing challenges for media startups striving to increase revenue, especially with major players like Alphabet and Meta Platforms dominating advertising sales.
In a January blog post, Artifact announced its decision to shut down its app’s operations, citing insufficient market opportunity to justify continued investment.
Yahoo, the owner of news brands like TechCrunch, Engadget, and Yahoo Finance, stated that Artifact’s AI-powered recommendation engine and other features will enhance its news operations and enable personalized content delivery to its audience.
The online publisher also holds a minority stake in the content recommendation platform Taboola.
Yahoo, which chose not to disclose financial terms, was acquired by the private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion in 2021.
Artifact was founded in early 2023 by Systrom and Mike Krieger, who previously worked at Meta (formerly known as Facebook) following its acquisition of Instagram in 2012.
The pair departed from the parent company of Facebook in late 2018, a move that some media reports attributed to their strained relationship with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and divergent visions for Instagram.
According to a statement from Yahoo, Systrom and Krieger will serve as advisors to Yahoo during this transition.
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