UPDATE: We reported yesterday that Yahoo was on the verge of announcing an acquisition of Tumblr. Today, Yahoo confirmed its plan with a somewhat unusual press release titled "Yahoo! to Acquire Tumblr/Promises not to screw it up." The announcement's text has a playful response to Tumblr users who complained about the acquisition.
"Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business," Yahoo said. "David Karp will remain CEO. The product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately with the same Tumblr irreverence, wit, and commitment to empower creators." The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of the year, after the usual regulatory process.
Yahoo hopes to turn Tumblr into a profitable part of the company. "Tumblr can deploy Yahoo!'s personalization technology and search infrastructure to help its users discover creators, bloggers, and content they'll love," Yahoo stated. "In turn, Tumblr brings 50 billion blog posts (and 75 million more arriving each day) to Yahoo!'s media network and search experiences. The two companies will also work together to create advertising opportunities that are seamless and enhance the user experience."
Also, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has her own Tumblr blog now.
Here's our story from yesterday:
All of the Tumblr acquisition rumors this week appear to be true. According to The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo's board of directors approved a $1.1 billion purchase of the microblogging site this week. The decision comes on the heels of Yahoo scheduling a press event for Monday in New York (Tumblr's home base).
WSJ cites "people familiar with the matter" but their story is consistent with earlier reports. On Thursday, Adweek spoke with "multiple sources familiar with the talks" who pointed to the deal nearly being complete. Earlier that day, AllThingsD reported Yahoo was looking into such an alliance to become "cool" again "according to sources close to the situation."
The alleged acquisition seems inline with Yahoo's strategy under new CEO Marissa Mayer. Mayer has been with Yahoo for less than one year, but the organization has acquired several small companies under her leadership. These additions include social recommendation site Jybe, mobile news reader Summly, and mobile games developer Loki Studios.
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