Tumblr has denied rumours that Yahoo! is in talks to buy its micro-blogging platform for as much as USD50m.
According to a report on technology site ValleyWag, Yahoo! is discussing a "low-to-mid eight figures" buyout of Tumblr, with Yahoo!'s SVP of community and network services, Tapan Bhat reportedly leading talks.
However, Tumblr CEO David Karp dismisses the rumours as "categorically untrue".
Tumblr is a Twitter-rivalling service that lets users post blogs using short, mixed-media posts. Founded in 2007 and based in New York, the company raised USD4.5m in a Series B round led by Spark Capital in December. This reportedly gave it a USD15m valuation.
The reported interest follows Twitter's recent rise to prominence. Twitter grew by 752% in the US during 2008, according to figures released by web analytics firm Compete, with user numbers growing from 500,000 in December 2007 to 4.3m a year later.
Twitter turned down a USD500m offer from Facebook last year. It is unclear whether Yahoo! is in a position to make a comparable offer for Tumblr. Yahoo! has reportedly found it difficult to monetise past acquisitions such as Del.icio.us and Flickr. However, it is not yet clear what kind of growth plan Yahoo!'s newly appointed CEO Carol Bartz plans to implement.
StrategyEye's related categories: Print Portals - Major Blogs, Print Portals - Micro-Blogging, Blog Platforms
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