May 2013
3 posts
Yahoo buys Tumblr to court younger crowd →
sfgate.com
Yahoo has agreed to buy popular social blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion in a high-stakes move to regain the company’s relevancy in an Internet environment now dominated by Google, Facebook and Twitter. Yahoo’s board of directors approved the deal, according to technology news site AllThingsD and other news outlets that cited people familiar with the matter. According to the research firm Quantcast, 29 percent of Tumblr’s members are ages 18 to 24, and 19 percent are younger than 18. Yahoo’s previous foray into social networking was a product called Yahoo 360, which the company launched in 2005 but abandoned in 2008 after it failed to gain traction. […] Solis said if Mayer and Yahoo “can infuse business expertise into the community without disrupting it, Yahoo and Tumblr will increase revenues that, according to industry forecasts, will help it recoup acquisition costs.” […] Rubin also noted that Yahoo has struggled in the past to prosper with high-profile acquisitions, such as buying Flickr in 2005 when “it was by far the leading online photo community, and Instagram came out of nowhere to surpass it.”
Helpful hint: If you have to “court” the “younger crowd,” you’re screwed.
