Tumblr Yahoo Merger Possible With Facebook, Microsoft Also In A Bidding War
Tumblr Yahoo talking partnership or possibly Yahoo will merge, or buy, Tumblr, but Facebook and Microsoft are also said to be in the running for the popular social blogging platform.
First reported by All Things D and picked up by Forbes, there are reports that Yahoo is attempting to merge, partner with, or simply buy the popular blogging platform out of New York City, Tumblr.
If Yahoo was looking to buy Tumblr, the acquisition could be for over $1 billion, which is a 25 percent premium over Tumblr's last funding round.
But if Yahoo is looking to purchase one of the coolest and highly sought blogging platforms on the web, Tumblr--which reached 20 billion monthly pageviews back in November of 2012--it might also start a bidding war with Facebook and Microsoft might be getting in on the action as well.
This might be the perfect time for Tumblr CEO, David Karp, to unload his service, or partner up. When Forbes reached out to the Tumblr CEO for its story, Karp was not available for comment, but in a piece with the magazine last year, he expressed some hesitance about partnering with the old guard of the Internet media.
He said at the time he didn't want to be "absorbed into a behemoth of another company and raided for talent and traffic." But he was still open to "acquisitions that leave the company alone....There are a lot of paths for us."
Recently, the venture capital backers for Tumblr, have pressured the precocious 26-year-old Karp to find a real executive instead of assuming all the responsibilities for the Tumblr's maintenance and corporate leadership himself.
It's said that former AOL and Newscorp executive, Jonathan Miller, has been spending a lot of time in Tumblr's Flat Iron NYC offices, and he's the leading candidate to assume a role within Facebook similar to Sheryl Sandberg's with Facebook.
With Miller aboard as Tumblr's de-facto head, it would ameliorate Tumblr's chances for an acquisition with Yahoo, Facebook and Microsoft.