INTERNET GIANT YAHOO! has reportedly approved a deal to buy microblogging platform Tumblr.
The Wall Street Journal said the company’s board had approved a $1.1 billion (€875 million) cash takeover for the popular blogging and social networking site, which hosts 108 million blogs.
The acquisition would be Yahoo!’s most ambitious corporate action since Marissa Mayer took over as chief executive last summer.
On Friday the company sent reporters an invitation to a press event in Manhattan on Monday evening, at an address not far from Tumblr’s corporate headquarters.
AP said the purchase of Tumblr would fulfil Mayer’s ambition of helping Yahoo! to reach a wider audience on smartphones and tablet devices.
It is unclear whether Tumblr might accept the bid, however – with influential technology blog TechCrunch reporting on Friday that the website’s employees believed the bid to undervalue the company.
It cited sources within Tumblr who believed the $1.1 billion bid was “only a first offer” and thought it was too low.
Tumblr hosts 108 million blogs, including a relatively new off-kilter blog maintained by the White House, depicting the activities of US president Barack Obama in Tumblr-friendly blockquotes, photo galleries and GIFs.
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