Two years after Verizon bought Tumblr , the company is now trying to sell the blogging platform. Pornhub immediately expressed interest in buying Tumblr and ending Verizon's pornography ban.
“Verizon Communications Inc. is seeking a buyer for blogging site Tumblr, according to people familiar with the matter, as it tries to stabilize a media business that has struggled to meet revenue targets,” The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
Pornhub quickly announced its interest after the news broke, though it's unclear whether the two companies have discussed the matter. Verizon has banned adult content from Tumblr since December 2018, and Pornhub wants to change that.
“Tumblr has been a safe haven for those who wanted to explore and express their sexuality, including advocates of adult entertainment. We have long feared that such measures were taken to eliminate erotic communities on the platform, leaving many people without a haven through which they could comfortably explore adult content.”.
Pornhub's interest in buying Tumblr was first reported by BuzzFeed yesterday.
Shortly after Verizon announced its ban on pornography on Tumblr, it was reported that Tumblr's algorithm, created for this purpose, was "flagging content that was not for adults only and vice versa.".
The WSJ report said that Verizon’s sale process for Tumblr “is ongoing and may not result in any deal” and that “it is unclear how much money Verizon could get for Tumblr.” The WSJ report did not name any potential buyers.
Yahoo bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion in 2013, while Verizon bought Yahoo's operating business, including Tumblr, for $4.48 billion in June 2017.
Verizon had hoped that Yahoo and AOL would help it build a massive online advertising business, but that didn’t pan out. Verizon laid off 7% of its Yahoo/AOL division in January of this year, telling investors that the media division had “lower-than-expected revenue and earnings” as it lost ground to advertising industry leaders Google and Facebook.
