Automattic
Tumblr was owned by whom in Aug 2019?
Tumblr Tumblr ( stylized as tumblr and pronounced tumbler ) is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic . The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog . Users can follow other users blogs . Bloggers can also make their blogs private . For bloggers many of the websites features are accessed from a dashboard interface . As of August 12 , 2019 , Tumblr hosts over 475 million blogs . As of January 2016 , the website had over 500 million monthly visitors , which dropped to less than 400 million by August 2019 . History . Development of Tumblr began in 2006 during a two-week gap between contracts at David Karps software consulting company , Davidville ( housed at Karps former internship with producer-incubator Fred Seiberts Frederator Studios , which was located a block from Tumblrs current headquarters ) . Karp had been interested in tumblelogs ( short-form blogs , hence the name Tumblr ) for some time and was waiting for one of the established blogging platforms to introduce their own tumblelogging platform . As no one had done so after a year of waiting , Karp and developer Marco Arment began working on their own tumblelogging platform . Tumblr was launched in February 2007 , and within two weeks the service had gained 75,000 users . Arment left the company in September 2010 to focus on Instapaper . In early June 2012 , Tumblr featured its first major brand advertising campaign in conjunction with Adidas , who launched an official soccer Tumblr blog and bought placements on the user dashboard . This launch came only two months after Tumblr announced it would be moving towards paid advertising on its site . On May 20 , 2013 , it was announced that Yahoo and Tumblr had reached an agreement for Yahoo ! Inc . to acquire Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash . Many of Tumblrs users were unhappy with the news , causing some to start a petition , achieving nearly 170,000 signatures . David Karp remained CEO and the deal was finalized on June 20 , 2013 . Advertising sales goals were not met and in 2016 Yahoo wrote down $712 million of Tumblrs value . Verizon Communications acquired Yahoo in June 2017 , and placed Yahoo and Tumblr under its Oath subsidiary . Karp announced in November 2017 that he would be leaving Tumblr by the end of the year . Jeff DOnofrio , Tumblrs President and COO , took over leading the company . The site , along with the rest of the Oath division ( renamed Verizon Media Group in 2019 ) , continued to struggle under Verizon . In March 2019 , SimilarWeb estimated Tumblr had lost 30% of its user traffic since December 2018 , when the site had introduced a stricter content policy with heavier restrictions on adult content ( which had been a notable draw to the service ) . In May 2019 , it was reported that Verizon was considering selling the site due to its continued struggles since the purchase ( as it had done with another Yahoo property , Flickr , via its sale to SmugMug ) . Following this news , Pornhubs vice president publicly expressed interest in purchasing Tumblr , with a promise to reinstate the previous adult content policies . On August 12 , 2019 , Verizon Media announced that it would sell Tumblr to Automattic—operator of blog service WordPress.com and corporate backer of the open source blog software of the same name—for an undisclosed amount . Axios reported that the sale price was less than $3 million , a significant decrease over Yahoos original purchase price . Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg stated that the site will operate as a complementary service to WordPress.com , and that there were no plans to reverse the content policy decisions made during Verizon ownership . Features . Blog management . - Dashboard : The dashboard is the primary tool for the typical Tumblr user . It is a live feed of recent posts from blogs that they follow . Through the dashboard , users are able to comment , reblog , and like posts from other blogs that appear on their dashboard . The dashboard allows the user to upload text posts , images , videos , quotes , or links to their blog with a click of a button displayed at the top of the dashboard . Users are also able to connect their blogs to their Twitter and Facebook accounts ; so whenever they make a post , it will also be sent as a tweet and a status update . - Queue : Users are able to set up a schedule to delay posts that they make . They can spread their posts over several hours or even days . - Tags : Users can help their audience find posts about certain topics by adding tags . If someone were to upload a picture to their blog and wanted their viewers to find pictures , they would add the tag #picture , and their viewers could use that word to search for posts with the tag #picture . - HTML editing : Tumblr allows users to edit their blogs theme HTML coding to control the appearance of their blog . Users are also able to use a custom domain name for their blog . Mobile . With Tumblrs 2009 acquisition of Tumblerette , an iOS application created by Jeff Rock and Garrett Ross , the service launched its official iPhone app . The site became available to BlackBerry smartphones on April 17 , 2010 , via a Mobelux application in BlackBerry World . In June 2012 , Tumblr released a new version of its iOS app , Tumblr 3.0 , allowing support for Spotify integration , hi-res images and offline access . An app for Android is also available . A Windows Phone app was released on April 23 , 2013 . An app for Google Glass was released on May 16 , 2013 . Inbox and messaging . Tumblr blogs may optionally allow users to submit questions , either as themselves or anonymously , to the blog for a response . Tumblr also offered a fan mail function , allowing users to send messages to blogs that they follow . On November 10 , 2015 , Tumblr introduced an integrated instant messaging function , allowing users to chat with other Tumblr users . The feature was rolled out in a viral manner ; it was initially made available to a group of 1500 users , and other users could receive access to the messaging system if they were sent a message by any user that had received access to the system itself . The messaging platform replaces the fan mail system , which was deprecated . The ability to send posts to others via the Dashboard was added the following month . In November 2019 , Tumblr introduced group chats—ephemeral chat rooms surfaced via searches , designed to allow users to share content in real-time with users who share their interests . Posts disappear after 24 hours and cannot be edited . Original content . In May 2012 , Tumblr launched Storyboard , a blog managed by an in-house editorial team which features stories and videos about noteworthy blogs and users on Tumblr . In April 2013 , Storyboard was shut down . In March 2018 , Tumblr began to syndicate original video content from Verizon-owned video network go90 , as part of an ongoing integration of Oath properties , and reported plans to wind down go90 in favor of using Oath properties to distribute its content instead . This made the respective content available internationally , since go90 is a U.S.-only service . Usage . Tumblr has been noted for the socially progressive views of its users . In 2011 , the service was most popular with the teen and college-aged user segments with half of Tumblrs visitor base being under the age of 25 . In April 2013 , the website received more than 13 billion global page views . User activity , measured by the number of blog posts each day , peaked at over 100 million in early 2014 and declined in each of the next three years , to approximately 30 million by October 2018 . As of May 2019 , Tumblr hosts over 465 million blogs and more than 172 billion posts in total with over 21 million posts created on the site each day . Adult content . Tumblr was noted by technology journalists as having a sizable amount of pornographic content . An analysis conducted by news and technology site TechCrunch on May 20 , 2013 , showed that over 22% of all traffic in and out of Tumblr was classified as pornography . In addition , a reported 16.45% of blogs on Tumblr exclusively contained pornographic material . Following July 2013 and its acquisition by Yahoo , Tumblr progressively restricted adult content on the site . In July 2013 , Tumblr began to filter content in adult-tagged blogs from appearing in search results and tagged displays unless the user was logged in . In February 2018 , Safe Mode ( which filters sensitive content and blogs ) became enabled by default for all users on an opt-out basis . On December 3 , 2018 , Tumblr announced that effective December 17 , all images and videos depicting sex acts , and real-life images and videos depicting human genitalia or female-presenting nipples , would be banned from the service . Exceptions are provided for illustrations or art that depict nudity , nudity related to political or newsworthy speech , and depictions of female-presenting nipples in relation to medical events such as childbirth , breastfeeding , mastectomy and gender reassignment surgery . The rules do not apply to text content . All posts in violation of the policy are hidden from public view , and repeat offenders may be reprimanded . Shortly prior to the announcement , Tumblrs Android app was patched to remove the ability to disable Safe Mode . The change faced wide criticism among Tumblrs community ; in particular , it has been argued that the service should have focused on other major issues ( such as controlling hate speech or the number of porn-related spambots on the service ) , and that the services adult community provided a platform for sex education , independent adult performers ( especially those representing LGBT communities who feel that they are underrepresented by a heteronormative mainstream industry ) seeking an outlet for their work , and those seeking a safe haven from over-policed platforms to share creative work with adult themes . Tumblr stated that it was using various algorithms to detect potential violations , in combination with manual reviews . Users quickly discovered a wide array of false positives . A large number of users scheduled protest actions on December 17 . On the day the ban took effect , Tumblr issued a new post clarifying the new policy , showcasing examples of adult images still allowed on the service , and stating that it fully recognized its special obligation to serving its LGBT userbase , and that LGBTQ+ conversations , exploration of sexuality and gender , efforts to document the lives and challenges of those in the sex worker industry , and posts with pictures , videos , and GIFs of gender-confirmation surgery are all examples of content that is not only permitted on Tumblr but actively encouraged . Wired cited multiple potential factors in the ban , including that the presence of adult content made the service unappealing to potential advertisers , the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act ( a U.S . federal law which makes websites liable for knowingly assisting or facilitating illegal sex trafficking ) , as well as heavy restrictions on adult content imposed by Apple for software offered on the iOS App Store ( which similarly prompted several Reddit clients to heavily frustrate the ability for users to access forums on the site that contain adult content ) . Corporate affairs . Tumblrs headquarters is at 770 Broadway in New York City . The company also maintains a support office in Richmond , Virginia . As of June 1 , 2017 , Tumblr had 411 employees . The companys logo is set in Bookman Old Style with some modifications . Funding . Tumblr had received about $125 million of funding from investors . The company has raised funding from Union Square Ventures , Spark Capital , Martín Varsavsky , John Borthwick ( Betaworks ) , Fred Seibert , Krum Capital , and Sequoia Capital ( among other investors ) . In its first round of funding in October 2007 , Tumblr raised $750,000 from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures . In December 2008 the company raised $4.5 million in Series B funding and a further $5 million in April 2010 . In December 2010 Tumblr raised $30 million in Series D funding . The company had an $800 million valuation in August 2011 . In September 2011 the company raised $85 million in a round of funding led by Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners . Revenue sources . In an interview with Nicole Lapin of Bloomberg West on September 7 , 2012 , David Karp said the site was monetized by advertising . Their first advertising launch started in May 2012 after 16 experimental campaigns . Tumblr made $13 million in revenue in 2012 and hoped to make $100 million in 2013 . Tumblr reportedly spent $25 million to fund operations in 2012 . In 2013 , Tumblr began allowing companies to pay to promote their own posts to a larger audience . Tumblr Head of Sales , Lee Brown , has quoted the average ad purchase on Tumblr to be nearly six figures . Tumblr also allows premium theme templates to be sold for use by blogs . In July 2016 , advertisements were implemented by default across all blogs . Users may opt-out , and the service stated that a revenue sharing program would be implemented at a later date . Criticism . Copyright issues . Tumblr has received criticism for copyright violations by participating bloggers ; however , Tumblr accepts Digital Millennium Copyright Act ( DMCA ) take-down notices . Tumblrs visual appeal has made it ideal for photoblogs that often include copyrighted works from others that are re-published without payment . Tumblr users can post unoriginal content by Reblogging , a feature on Tumblr that allows users to re-post content taken from another blog onto their own blog with attribution . Security . Tumblr has been forced to manage spam and security problems . For example , a chain letter scam in May 2011 affected 130,000 users . On December 3 , 2012 , Tumblr was attacked by a cross-site scripting worm deployed by the Internet troll group Gay Nigger Association of America . The message urged users to harm themselves and criticized blogging in general . User interface changes . In 2015 , Tumblr faced criticism by users for changes to its reblog mechanisms . In July 2015 , the system was modified so that users cannot remove or edit individual comments by other users when reblogging a post ; existing comments can only be removed all at once . Tumblr staff argued that the change was intended to combat misattribution , though this move was met by criticism from ‘ask blogs’ and ‘RP blogs’ , which often shortened long chains of reblogs between users to improve readability . In September 2015 , Tumblr changed how threads of comments on reblogged posts are displayed ; rather than a nested view with indentations for each post , all reblogs are now shown in a flat view , and user avatars were also added . The change was intended to improve the legibility of reblogs , especially on mobile platforms , and complements the inability to edit existing comments . Although some users had requested such a change to combat posts made illegible by extremely large numbers of comments on a reblogged post , the majority of users ( even those who had requested such a change ) criticized the new format . The Verge was also critical of the changes , noting that it was cleaner , but made the site lose its nostalgic charm . Userbase behaviour . While Tumblrs userbase has generally been received as accommodating people from a wide range of ideologies and identities , a common point of criticism is that attitudes from users on the site stifle discussion and discourse . In addition , several incidents involving serious behaviour from the userbase have been publicised in recent years ; these include the ‘Independence Day raid’ in 2014 , in which users of Tumblr attempted to raid 4chan , only for the raid to backfire when 4chan retaliated , as well as an incident in 2015 , in which members of the Steven Universe fandom drove an artist to the point of attempting suicide over their artwork , in which they drew characters thin that are typically seen as being fat in the show . In 2018 , Kotaku reporter Gita Jackson described the site as a joyless black hole , citing how the websites design and functionality led to fandoms spinning out of control , as well as an environment which inhibited discussion and discourse . Promotion of self-harm and suicide . In February 2012 , Tumblr banned blogs that promote or advocate suicide , self-harm and eating disorders ( pro-ana ) . The suicide of a British teenager , Tallulah Wilson , raised the issue of suicide and self-harm promotion on Tumblr as Wilson was reported to have maintained a self-harm blog on the site . A user on the site is reported to have sent Wilson an image of a noose accompanied by the message : here is your new necklace , try it on . In response to the Wilson case , Maria Miller , the UKs minister for culture , media , and sport , said that social media sites like Tumblr need to remove toxic self-harm content . Searching terms like depression , anxiety , and suicide on Tumblr now brings up a PSA page directing the user to resources like the national suicide lifeline , and 7 Cups ; as well as an option to continue to the search results . There are concerns of some Tumblr posts glorifying suicide and depression among young people . Politics . In February 2018 , BuzzFeed published a report claiming that Tumblr was utilized as a distribution channel for Russian agents to influence American voting habits during the 2016 presidential election . Despite policies forbidding hate speech , Tumblr has been noted for hosting content from Nazis and white supremacists . In May 2020 , Tumblr announced that it will remove reblogs of terminated hate speech posts , specifically Nazi and white supremacist content . Censorship . Several countries have blocked access to Tumblr because of pornography , religious extremism or LGBT content . These countries include China , Indonesia , Kazakhstan and Iran . In February 2016 , the Indonesian government temporarily blocked access to Tumblr within the country because the site hosts pages that carried porn . The government shortly reversed its decision to block the site and said it had asked Tumblr to self-censor its pornographic content . Adult content ban . In November 2018 , Tumblrs iOS app was removed by Apple from its App Store after illegal child pornography images were found on the service . Tumblr stated that all images uploaded to the service are scanned against an industry database , but that a routine audit had revealed images that had not yet been added to the database . In the wake of the incident , a number of Tumblr blogs—particularly those dealing primarily in adult-tagged artwork such as erotica , as well as art study and anatomy resources—were also deleted , with affected users taking to other platforms ( such as Twitter ) to warn others and complain about the deletions , as well as encourage users to back up their blogs contents . Tumblr subsequently removed the ability to disable Safe Mode from its Android app , and announced a wider ban on explicit images of sex acts and nudity on the platform with certain limited exceptions . Tumblr decided to use an automatic content recognition system which resulted in many non-pornographic images being removed from the platform . The site was known for its popularity with adult content that attracted women and other under-served audiences . Notable users . Celebrities who have used Tumblr include Taylor Swift , Lady Gaga , Ariana Grande , Zooey Deschanel , John Mayer , B.o.B , Soulja Boy , Fergie , Anthony Bourdain , John Green , Zayn , Lana Del Rey , Grimes , Hayley Williams , Frank Ocean , Lorde , Sufjan Stevens , Jhené Aiko , Amandla Stenberg , Karlie Kloss , and Dianna Agron . On October 21 , 2011 , then-U.S . President Barack Obama created a Tumblr .