Verizon will sell off a porn-free Tumblr for ‘nominal amount’

Tumblr’s future is finally clear: Verizon is selling the blogging platform, which Yahoo once valued at more than a billion dollars, for a “nominal amount,” according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Verizon announced Monday that it planned to sell Tumblr to Automattic, the San Francisco company that owns WordPress. 

“WordPress.com and Tumblr were both early pioneers among blogging platforms,” Tumblr wrote in a statement. “Automattic shares our vision to build passionate communities around shared interests and to democratize publishing so that anyone with a story can tell it, especially when they come from under-heard voices and marginalized communities.”

The companies have yet to disclose the terms of the deal. Yahoo originally acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion in 2013. 

Tumblr was once considered the “crown jewel” of Marissa Mayer’s Yahoo, which spent billions of dollars on more than 50 acquisitions. But despite Yahoo’s pledge to not “screw up,” Tumblr, a series of missteps lead to Yahoo eventually writing down more than half of Tumblr’s value just three years after its $1 billion acquisition.

Tumble has struggled even more in recent months. The site, which had long been known for its free-spirited user base that made the blogging platform a home for all varieties of NSFW content, lost hundreds of millions of users after its decision last year to ban adult content. In May, reports surfaced that Verizon was looking for a buyer for the site, and Pornhub said it was “extremely interested.”

Automattic told the Wall Street Journal the company has no plans to change the policy banning adult content. 

Even so, the acquisition should be good news for Tumblr fans, as it seems Automattic is willing to put its resources into maintaining the platform. Automattic’s CEO told The Journal it would keep about 200 Tumblr employees and “look for ways WordPress.com and Tumblr can share services and functionality.”