American internet corporation Yahoo! is to acquire the popular blogging service Tumblr in a deal worth £723m.
Marissa Mayer, Yahoo!’s chief executive, said that Tumblr would continue to operate independently after the site’s bosses promised “not to screw it up”.
The deal is the most significant made by Mayer since she took over at the company in July last year, she described the move as a “unique opportunity”. She also commented on the sites’ integration, saying:
“On many levels, Tumblr and Yahoo couldn’t be more different, but at the same time, they couldn’t be more complementary.”
The New York-based blogging site will still be the responsibility of its original founder, 26-year-old David Karp, who expressed his delight at Yahoo!’s backing, saying the site would become faster with increased resources. He also explained that neither party wished to alter the site’s original aims.
The acquisition is thought by many to be Yahoo!’s latest attempt to re-capture its former glory as one of the internet’s biggest players. As with Myspace, Yahoo!’s popularity was eclipsed by that of sites such as Google, Twitter and Facebook.
Tumblr’s popularity is often put down to the way it mixes traditional elements of social networking and blogging to offer something different. The site’s simple design has seen it attract a sizeable user-base since it was launched. It now claims to host 108 million blogs, which together offer readers access more than 50 billion posts.
Tumblr is also known for its mobile friendly layout, something which only increases its internet marketing potential.
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