August 12, 2019

Verizon to Sell Tumblr to Automattic

Sarah Krouse on wsj.com:

Mr. Mullenweg said his company intends to maintain the existing policy that bans adult content. He said he has long been a Tumblr user and sees the site as complementary to WordPress.com. “It’s just fun,” he said of Tumblr. “We’re not going to change any of that.”

Great news. I never used Tumblr as a social network, but it was my blog engine for a long time and I enjoyed using it. Anything that promotes people posting under their own domain is good for the web.

Automattic also has a good history of not messing with acquisitions, like Simplenote.

Update: Ursula Perano and Dan Primack on axios.com:

A source familiar with the deal puts the price-tag “well below” $20 million, while another source puts it below $10 million.

Now that’s a markdown, given that Yahoo paid $1.1 billion in 2013.

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