Skip to main content

WordPress owner Automattic to acquire Tumblr for ‘nominal amount’

Update: Deal valued at less than $3 million.

Verizon announced today that it has sold blogging platform Tumblr to Automattic, the company behind WordPress. The Wall Street Journal says the transaction is valued at a “nominal amount,” despite Tumblr having once been acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion.

As part of the deal, Automattic will gain 200 staffers from Tumblr. Verizon is said to have discussed a sale of Tumblr with a handful of different companies but ultimately landed on Automattic. “The sale price isn’t material to Verizon,” today’s report says citing “people familiar with the matter.”

Yahoo originally acquired Tumblr in 2013 for $1.1 billion in cash. From there, Yahoo was acquired by Verizon in 2017 and placed under its Oath subsidiary. The sale of Tumblr comes as Verizon plans to revamp its struggling media group, which houses properties including TechCrunch, Huffington Post, Engadget, and more.

For Q2 2018, Verizon Media Group (formerly Oath) generated $1.8 billion in revenue, down 2.9 percent year-over-year. At the time, Verizon detailed its plans to focus on “news, finance, sports, entertainment and mail products” within that division.

Tumblr made news last December when it announced plans to remove all adult content after being removed from the App Store. That ban is something Automattic plans to keep in place:

The Tumblr acquisition is the largest ever in terms of price and head count for Automattic, the company’s Chief Executive Matt Mullenweg said in an interview.

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.”

As for what this means for WordPress, executives from both Tumblr and Automattic will “look for ways WordPress.com and Tumblr can share services and functionality.” We wouldn’t expect any immediate changes, though.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

OnlyBrush Smart Dental Travel Kit
You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

Comments

Author

Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com