Facebook, twitter, linkedIn, google+; Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about them… but does Tumblr ring any bells? Yes? Probably more so now, given its recent takeover by Yahoo!

Being an avid tumblr blogger myself, the news of this recent takeover has been at my attention quite alot. And as a Business student, I was more than curious. Mergers and Acquisitions have proved to have numerous advantages, boosting revenue streams, developing markets, you name it. But what’s interesting about this particular takeover to me, is two things: The platform strength behind both enterprises, and the nature of both the platforms.

Tumblr is more than just a microblogging website – and this isn’t just personal bias speaking. This tightknit community generally consists of 15 – 30 year olds, a Client base which is extremely protective of their platform[1]. Yahoo on the other hand, has a much older market. Though this takeover provides a new platform for display monetization, it brings with it a brand new, vastly different viewer base; ‘the cool kids’. Who’s going to give up their brand culture, yahoo or tumblr?

Another point to look at, is Tumblr’s market share. “Among the battle of who is the fairest amongst the platforms – tumblr is kinda flat to modestly down in our research” says Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at NYU[2]. Given Yahoo!’s current net value of US$14 billion, a US$1.1 billion price tag[3] on this takeover would need to yield results, and do it fast. So yahoo: frankly, what were you thinking? A huge investment on a social media platform that is not only dull in the markets, but is also giving your advertising and brand a cold shoulder?

watch?v=hZhm6OoJ0o8 A great interview for some more great insights on the takeover

So how is yahoo going to successfully integrate tumblr? Leave your comments below!