Yahoo might do it again. In a year that has seen great growth and comeback for them, there is a plan for Yahoo to purchase Tumblr. Tomorrow, there’s a meeting to debate buying Tumblr for over a billion dollars in cash.
This hip youth-oriented blog site has been under Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s eye for weeks. At first, the talk started with just investing. Now, it’s turning into outright takeover. This is an attempt for Yahoo to reach the youth audience. As of April 2013, Tumblr has over 107 million blogs, more than 50 million blog posts, and about 37 million members. Tumblr claims it made $13 million dollars in revenue last year. So yes, I can see why Yahoo is salivating. But this is by far the biggest purchase Yahoo has ever attempted. What is the deal goes downhill? What if they buy Tumblr than it fails? They’re out of a billion dollars and have nothing to show for it.
This is one of the reasons I’m against this purchase. Yes, I’ve been singing the praises of Yahoo lately, but not this time. Tumblr is doing fairly well by itself. Obviously, so is Yahoo. Why do this? Call me a sucker for small business, but I don’t like it when companies merge like this, unless it’s an absolute necessity. I see no necessity here. In America, there’s free market enterprise. When you have large companies swallowing up successful smaller ones, that kills the free in free market. Then there is the censorship issue. If Yahoo buys Tumblr, whose to stop them from restricting?what bloggers say? The freedom of self-expression is what makes Tumblr successful. ??Is this potential buyout a good thing or the worst mistake Yahoo has ever made?