WordPress parent company Automattic has agreed to purchased microblogging service Tumblr for a “nominal amount” from current owner Verizon for an undisclosed sum.
Automattic says it will retain some 200 employees as part of the deal. The microblogging platform has changed hands three time over the past six years.
While terms of the sales haven’t as yet been announced, its is believed that Automattic is paying significantly less for it than the $1.1 billion Yahoo paid for the site in 2013. The WSJ report quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying Tumblr’s final sale price is not “material” to the wireless carrier.
A report from Axios says a source familiar with the deal puts the price tag at “well below” $20 million, while another source puts it below $10 million.
Verizon took control of Tumblr as part of a 2017 package deal for Yahoo’s core assets, which ended up costing Verizon $4.48 billion. The mobile carrier said at the time the move would help them move forward with their digital advertising and media efforts.
While Tumblr enjoyed early success, it has since stood in the shadow of other social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. While the microblogging service currently hosts more than 450 million blogs, it has struggled to turn a profit.
Last year, Tumblr pulled all adult content from the service over criticism over its filters failing to catch child pronography that had been posted to the site.
