Yahoo! to target mobile users after purchasing Tumblr for $1.1bn

Yahoo! has confirmed that it will be purchasing the five-year-old blogging site Tumblr for $1.1bn (£723m).

The two sites, which reportedly have a combined user-base of over 1bn people, will combine to narrow the gap with rival websites like Facebook, YouTube and Google in the race for online audiences figures.

Chief executive of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer, confirmed that Yahoo will be utilising Tumblr’s mobile-user base, as half of Tumblr’s registered users are on its mobile apps: “I would characterise Tumblr as being ahead of Yahoo! in the way that it works on mobile,” Ms Mayer commented.

Perhaps the hardest task Yahoo! bosses will have is convincing Tumblr users of the site’s continued authenticity, many of whom have expressed displeasure at the idea of Yahoo! increasing display advertising throughout their creative blogging space.

Mayer is nearing her first full year at Yahoo! after leaving Google in July 2012. Her approach has led the company to place increasing emphasis on enhancing its mobile offering, helped recently by a £30m purchase of UK-based Summly, a mobile news service founded by teenager Nick D’Aloisio.