Austria: Austrian Federal Competition Authority launches phase 1 merger inquiry regarding Facebook's acquisition of Giphy

On 29 March 2021, the Austrian Federal Competition Authority (AFCA) launched an investigation into the acquisition of Giphy by Facebook and the lack of notification thereof. The acquisition itself took place in May 2020 and the AFCA was not notified of the merger at the time. The inquiry was commenced because the acquisition potentially meets Austria's merger control threshold. The threshold is any transaction valued at over EUR 200 million with the target company being active on the domestic market. The AFCA is cooperating with other competition authorities, namely the UK's CMA, which are conducting a similar inquiry on the matter.