Tumblr was purchased six years ago by Yahoo for $1.1B. Verizon sold it yesterday to Automattic (parent of WordPress) for a (rumored) $3 million.
A couple of thoughts on this –
- I’m still unsure of what NYC’s best tech success story is. Tumblr does not appear to be it
I’m delighted to announce that we’ve reached an agreement to acquire Tumblr!
We promise not to screw it up.
– Marissa Mayer, Yahoo, 2013
https://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/50902111638/tumblr-yahoo
- Marissa Mayer did not live up to her quote here. CEOs are paid to make big, bold moves. A CEO should never promise an acquisition will remain independent (spoiler alert, it won’t) or that they won’t screw it up. They may screw it up, they will PROBABLY screw it up, they’re taking a chance, especially when the business isn’t profitable.
- Automattic is Tumblr’s perfect home. At 3 million bucks, it doesn’t have to bend its back (and comprise the product) to make their money back. Automattic is king of the blogging game.
- My two cents – stop being a puritan and bring the porn back. Don’t sell ads, empower bloggers (and porn bloggers) to make money via subscriptions. Make Tumblr a player in the newsletter game.