Tumblr will have a new owner for the third time in just six years, after Verizon, the largest US operator and owner of the company after acquiring Yahoo! in 2017, reached an agreement to transfer this social network of microblogs to Automattic, WordPress parent firm, according to the companies.
The transaction, of which no economic details have been disclosed but, according to the American press, would mean a sale price below 20 million dollars, far from the 1.1 billion dollars paid by Yahoo! in 2013, will involve the transfer of some 200 employees from Verizon to Automattic.
“Tumblr and WordPress have always been philosophically very aligned,” said Automattic CEO, Matt Mullenweg, in an entry on the social network where he describes as “unique opportunity” the possibility of joining both platforms. “I knew we had to do it,” he emphasizes.
“Our teams are working hard at this time to facilitate the transition on Tumblr, and although we have many details to solve, one thing we are absolutely committed to is preserving the passion and sense of community that so many people associate with Tumblr,” concludes
For his part, the CEO of Tumblr, Jeff D’Onofrio, has been “excited” with the “new chapter” that opens for the company, noting that the integration in Automattic will allow to offer a better experience to the community of the social network.
According to a knowledgeable source of the talks, cited by the US financial information portal Axios, the sale price of Tumblr would be much lower than 20 million dollars.
Founded in 2007, Tumblr was acquired in June 2013 by Yahoo !, which paid 1,100 million dollars for the social network of microblogs, although four years later it would become part of Verizon, which paid 4,480 million dollars for the operating business of Yahoo!, including Tumblr, HuffPost, Yahoo Sports, AOL.com, MAKERS, Tumblr, BUILD Studios, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Mail, which became part of OATH, later renamed Verizon Media.
K. Tovar
Source: Eldiario
