Is Tumblr Worth $1 Billion?
There's another $1 billion acquisition rumor floating around. Yahoo, reportedly, is interested in coming to some sort of deal to acquire Tumblr. But hold up: the rumored "talks" between the two companies could result in an investment, an alliance, or an acquisition. Or, of course, nothing at all.
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AllThingsD, however, makes their case for the possibility of a lot of money changing hands:
It’s not the first time Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been interested in the New York-based hipster blogging service. As an executive at Google, she had closely watched its fast growth, along with that of Foursquare. Since she took over at Yahoo, several sources said that she has met with its top execs, including founder and CEO David Karp. But sources said that interest has gotten stronger more recently, coming at the same time as Tumblr has been stepping up its efforts to raise a large funding round that could value the New York company at $1 billion. In a series of fundings since 2007, Tumblr has raised $125 million so far, at a reported valuation of $800 million.
AdWeek is also cautiously bullish on an Instagram-like acquisition happening here: "The deal is not done," they explain, "but could reach as high as $1 billion." Both reports cite the magical "cool" factor of Tumblr, something, apparently, Yahoo really, really wants — and isn't — at the moment. Plus, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is in a buying mood, though lately for smaller companies with smaller price tags.
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While both companies are, by all reports, kind of into each other, a word of caution: the sources for both stories are unnamed, and neither Yahoo nor Tumblr have weighed in on the rumors. So we'll have to wait and see.
