Yahoo! bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion
Yahoo! announced that is has officially bought Tumblr for 1.1 billion dollars. Many critics worried that with the buyout would come Yahoo!’s infamous advertising popups. However, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer states that, “Tumblr will be independently operated as a second business and David Karp will remain CEO.”
Tumblr has creators and curators of all ages and it will lend its tremendously popular community to Yahoo! In Yahoo!’s press release they state, “Tumblr+Yahoo! is expected to grow Yahoo!’s audience by 50 percent, to more than a billion monthly visitors and the grow traffic by approximately 20 percent.” Tumblr also bring 50 billion blog posts with 75 million more arriving each day, to Yahoo!’s network and searches.
Mayer summarizes the two companies: “on many levels, Tumblr and Yahoo! couldn’t be more different, but, at the same time, they couldn’t be more complementary. Yahoo! is the Inernet’s original media network. Tumblr is the Internet’s fastest-growing media frenzy. Both companies are homes for brands- established and emerging…fundamentally Tumblr and Yahoo! are both all about users, design, and finding surprise and inspiration amidst the everyday.” Karp said that the Tumblr team would not be changing and that their direction would remain the same: empowering creators to make their best work and get it in front of an audience.
Not the end of the world for Tumblr lovers
In an image on the web site, it is not quite time to panic, as Tumblr will benefit from the Yahoo! purchase. Frequently, Tumblr is down and unreliable, but with Yahoo! this should change. Also, Tumblr can deploy Yahoo!’s personalization technology, along with its search infrastructure allowing users to discover new creators, bloggers and content that they can connect to and love.
Only time will tell what type of integration it will have and what it will look like, but, with Karp still in charge, the changes are not likely to be too drastic.
Is one billion dollars the new price tag for startups?
One begins to wonder in light of the fact that Facebook bought Instagram for one billion dollars and is now buying Waze for one billion dollars; it could be pondered that this is the new chic price tag for startup acquisitions. Also, the job search site Indeed was acquired by a Japanese company, Recruit Co. Ltd. for one billion dollars. Along with the travel site Kayak being purchased by Priceline for 1.8 billion dollars; one begins to wonder if this isn’t the magic number.
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