Social Spending Spree: Voodoo Acquires BeReal

The social media sector just got a healthy jolt of excitement with the news that French mobile gaming company Voodoo has acquired social media upstart BeReal for a whopping €500 million. This kind of blockbuster acquisition has been rare in recent years, bringing to mind Facebook's purchase of Instagram back in the day. But Voodoo's bold move promises to shake things up in a landscape dominated by entrenched giants like Meta (META) and Snap (SNAP).

Status Quo = Shook

For quite some time, the social media sphere has been relatively quiet on the mergers and acquisitions front, apart from Meta's aggressive gobbling up of competitors. So Voodoo's out-of-left-field purchase of the niche French platform BeReal - known for its authentic, unfiltered approach to photo sharing - certainly turns heads.

While BeReal has steadily grown its user base to around 50 million monthly active users, it's still a minnow compared to the Facebooks and Instagrams of the world. But clearly Voodoo sees immense potential in BeReal's organic engagement and intends to take the brand global. This deal could light a fire under other major players like Meta and Snap to make bolder moves in the space.

QTNA: Is Social Media M&A About to Pop Off?

Voodoo's big bet on BeReal is likely to cause some ripples across the pond, influencing strategies at both public social media giants and smaller private companies. 

Publicly traded platforms like Snap, Meta, and Alphabet (GOOG) may feel added pressure to expand their offerings and capabilities in response to this injection of competition. 

Would Meta ever let an upstart like BeReal gain ground on Instagram? 

Not likely. 

We could see acquisitions or product developments meant to retain their dominance.

And Voodoo's willingness to shell out half a billion euros for BeReal may spur greater interest in emerging social media platforms among investors and potential acquirers. Smaller companies will be watching this deal closely as a sign their innovations could also catch the eye of major players. 

Getting acquired by the big dogs is the dream exit for these startups. We're probably not done seeing deals in this range for unique social media brands gaining traction (looking at you Tublr).

Keep an Eye on Small Social Media Companies

While giants like Meta and Snapchat tend to dominate the headlines, Voodoo’s acquisition of BeReal highlights the importance of tracking smaller niche platforms in the social media space. As we saw with Facebook purchasing Instagram back in the day, these under-the-radar brands can explode almost overnight once they hit a chord with users.

TikTok's rise to global dominance gives further credence to this idea - once a core group latches on, these companies can see hockey stick growth overnight.

BeReal's focus on authenticity and organic user engagement has clearly resonated with its community. It's the type of unique value proposition that the major players may struggle to replicate internally.

While still small compared to the Facebooks of the world, BeReal's 50 million monthly active users and high engagement present tremendous upside for Voodoo. This deal shows investors should keep close tabs on emerging social media platforms, as the next billion-dollar acquisition could come from an unknown upstart.

Predicting the Unpredictable

Forecasting the trends that will drive consumer behavior and engagement on social media platforms is notoriously difficult. What catches on virally with users often seems to come out of left field.

So while Voodoo is clearly betting big on BeReal's approach, the future is hard to predict in such a hot industry with big questions like if Congress will uphold the TikTok ban could open a power vacuum where smaller players could grab more market share.

But this much is clear—with a purchase price of €500 million, Voodoo sees immense potential in BeReal's formula for driving authentic engagement.

 

Stocks.News owns positions in Meta and Google.