Yahoo Tumblr Deal Is Officially Announced: Marissa Mayer 'Promises Not To Screw It Up'

Yahoo-Tumblr Deal Is Official: We Promise 'Not To Screw It Up'

After a weekend of rumors, it's official. In a press release issued Monday, Yahoo announced that it will acquire Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash. Aware that Yahoo has not managed previous acquisitions, like that of photo-sharing site Flickr or web-hosting service GeoCities, very well, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Internet company promised "not to screw it up" this time around.

To preserve the quirkiness that Tumblr users fear will be lost with the acquisition, Tumblr will be "independently operated as a separate business," the press release stated, with 26-year-old David Karp remaining the popular blogging platform's 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."

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wrote a post on the Yahoo's Tumblr page (titled: "Tumblr. + Yahoo! = !!") in an attempt to assuage fears and prove how young and hip she is. At the top of the post is a big GIF that flashes "Yahoo," then "Tumblr" then "Now Panic And Freak Out" before finally landing on "Keep Calm And Carry On." Young people love GIFs, right?

Mayer goes on to say how exciting the deal is for both companies. Yahoo will get more content and visitors, and Yahoo can help Tumblr with search:

In terms of working together, Tumblr can deploy Yahoo!’s personalization technology and search infrastructure to help its users discover creators, bloggers, and content they’ll love. 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 user experience.

Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp also made a celebratory post, explaining to Tumblr users that nothing about their beloved site will change. The newly minted centimillionaire signed the post, "Fuck yeah, David."

Before touching on how awesome this is, let me try to allay any concerns: We’re not turning purple. Our headquarters isn’t moving. Our team isn’t changing. Our roadmap isn’t changing. And our mission – to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve – certainly isn’t changing.

Karp explains that Yahoo will enable Tumblr to "get better faster." Plus, he writes, the "both our logos end with punctuation!" Remember, everyone, it's technically Yahoo! (ending in an exclamation point) and Tumblr. (ending in a period).

Before You Go

1
Advice To Job Hunting Women
"Find something you're passionate about and just love. Passion is really gender-neutralizing," Marissa Mayer said on Martha Stewart's "Women with Vision" television series in 2011.
2
The Pie 'Isn't Big Enough'
"Right now is a great time to be a woman in tech, but there's not enough women in tech," Mayer told a CES2012 panel hosted by CNET. "[I] worry a lot of times the conversation gets really focused on what percentage of the pie is women. And the truth is, the pie isn't big enough. We're not producing enough computer scientist. We're not producing enough product designers. We need a lot more people to keep up with all of these gadgets, all of this technology, all these possibilities."Mayer also commented on the stereotypical culture within the tech world: "There's all kinds of different women who do this. You can wear ruffles, you can be a jock, and you still be a great computer scientist or a great technologist, or a great product designer."
3
Tangible Technology
"There's just huge growth and opportunity. [T]he fact that the technology is now so tangible in our everyday lives, I think, will inspire a lot more women to go into technology -- and I'm really heartened by that," Mayer said for the MAKERS "Women in Tech" interview series in 2012.
4
Internet Empowered
"I consider myself incredibly lucky to be present in a moment in time when this wonderful and powerful medium, the internet, is empowering geeks -- and especially female geeks -- to express and pursue their passions," Meyer said in a 2012 acceptance speech at the Celebrating Change gala. She had just won the International Museum of Women's first-ever Innovator Award.
5
Geekin' Out
"People ask me all the time, 'What is it like to be a woman at Google?' I'm not a women at Google; I'm a geek at Google. And being a geek is just great," she said in an interview for CNN's "Leading Women" series in 2012.

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