Yahoo Buys Tumblr for $1.1 Billion

MAY 20 2013 · 12:00

Yahoo logo, animated. Marissa Mayer's Yahoo bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion on 20 May 2013; Verizon wrote most of it off four years later Place: Yahoo HQ, Sunnyvale, California · Tumblr HQ, New York City Figures: Marissa Mayer, Yahoo CEO · David Karp, Tumblr founder, 26 Marissa Mayer, eleven months into the Yahoo CEO job, announces on 20 May 2013 that Yahoo will acquire Tumblr (see [[tumblr-launches-2007]]) for $1.1 billion in cash. David Karp, 26, becomes Yahoo's highest-profile founder hire. Mayer promises, in the press release, not to screw it up. The promise becomes a recurring quote in the obituary coverage of the deal four years later. The same week, Giphy is founded (see [[giphy-founded-2013]]) and Steve Wilhite accepts his Webby (see [[wilhite-jif-2013]]). May 2013 is, by any reasonable accounting, the GIF's peak news cycle. Video: Charlie Rose interview with the 26-year-old Tumblr founder on Bloomberg TV, recorded the week of the $1.1 billion Yahoo announcement, 29 May 2013. Karp on the deal, on dropping out of high school, and on keeping the dashboard authentic.