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Verizon To Sell Tumblr To Wordpress Owner

This article is more than 4 years old.

Topline: Verizon will sell Tumblr to Wordpress owner Automattic, the companies announced Monday, allowing Verizon to unload the once-prominent blogging website it acquired in 2017. 

  • The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Axios reported Tumblr was sold for less than $3 million.
  • Tumblr, which allows users to upload and share pictures, videos and text, was once a popular social media network with an active young user base, but has languished recently as Twitter, Instagram and Reddit have grown. 
  • Automattic also owns e-commerce tool WooCommerce, Longreads and Simplenote, but the Tumblr acquisition is the company’s highest-profile deal to date.

In a Tumblr post announcing the deal, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg said that Wordpress, which allows users to create blogs and websites, and Tumblr are philosophically aligned because both work toward democratizing who has the ability to post online.

“When the possibility to join forces became concrete, it felt like a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have two beloved platforms work alongside each other to build a better, more open, more inclusive—and, frankly, more fun web,” he said.

Mullenweg did not specifically say how (or if) Tumblr’s front end user experience will change, but he did say the website "will evolve on its own path" and that the Tumblr team has "exciting functionality they’re eager to unlock."

Key Background: Automattic would be Tumblr’s third owner in addition to founder David Karp. Verizon acquired Tumblr in 2017 when it purchased Yahoo in a bid to strengthen its editorial and advertising business. Before that, Yahoo bought it from Karp at the height of its buzz in 2013 for $1.1 billion. Karp stayed on as CEO until a few months after the Verizon acquisition.  

Tangent: Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg told the Wall Street Journal that Tumblr will continue to ban adult content, continuing a policy change first made by Verizon last year in an effort to make the site more friendly to advertisers. The decision last year sparked widespread anger from Tumblr users.

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