Yahoo Nabs Tumblr for a Cool Billion, Porn Notwithstanding

LOS ANGELES—Yahoo’s board of directors has voted to acquire Tumblr for a reported $1.1 billion. All Things Digital said yesterday the vote was taken at an undisclosed time, but that it was procedural anyway. “Sources close to the board said the acquisition was a foregone conclusion and was unanimously approved,” ATD reported. While many reports have speculated on what Yahoo will do with all that porn, the supposed quandary was apparently not a significant consideration for the board. Saturday, Peter Kakfa mused on a few ways Yahoo could either deal with its new porn or dispose of it. Shortly after the news of the vote was leaked (i.e. unofficially announced), he received an email. “Now that the deal is done,” he wrote in an update to his Saturday story, “a Tumblr backer has piped up to offer a more concise version of my argument: ‘Non-story. Tumblr is the Internet. It’s a dashboard follower model, opt-in.’ That would have saved me a bunch of typing!” That sounds to us as if Yahoo will live with things as they are for a while. At least they know what they’re getting into. Interesting times.