The Yahoo! board of directors has approved a $1.1 Billion purchase of Tumblr, the microblogging platform and social networking site. 26 year old David Karp, CEO of Tumblr, is already valued at $200 Million. Tumblr, founded in Karp’s mother’s apartment in 2007 has about 100 million users and 90 million daily blog posts. But, it’s revenue was only $13 million last year. So what exactly is Yahoo acquiring, and why would their new CEO Marissa Mayer spend so much on a microblogging site?
Charlie O’Donnell, contributor with Fortune Magazine/CNN believes that Yahoo isn’t really acquiring Tumblr as much as they’re acquiring Karp.
For Yahoo to survive and be relevant, it doesn’t just need more pageviews. It needs product direction and vision — and that can’t just come from Marissa Mayer. Product, just like at any startup no matter the size, is a full-time job. Marissa needs to run Yahoo David Karp has been leading product at Tumblr from the beginning and leaning on others for everything else. It’s the same way with Zuckerberg at Facebook, Anthony Casalena at Squarespace, Scott Belsky at Behance and Jason at Fab.
Allthingsd.com reports that Mayer wants the acquisition to be her “stake in the ground of what her strategy is going forward for Yahoo.” O’Donnell thinks it’s the right direction.
David Karp is one of the best product minds I know, and if anyone can make Yahoo! into a compelling product experience, it’s him.
