obitoftheday asks: What do you think happens in Yahoo buys Tumblr? And why do we all agree that it seems like a bad idea?
(EDIT: On reader request, here’s a rebloggable version of this.)
» SFB says: I think Tumblr starts monetizing itself more effectively. For years they’ve tried to do everything but the obvious, but the problem is, they’ve turned down a lot of good ideas as a result.
(Comparison: WordPress.com has succeeded at profitability by both offering paid premium features and revenue sharing-style advertising for bloggers—both things Tumblr has chosen not to do, but could arguably do better than WordPress if it chose to do so. Nobody really complains about Wordpress’ ads. Think that might be because they created a context for it that didn’t bug users?)
But this could come at the cost of a very strong community. I know of one heavily-active user I liked reading, The Callus, who has quit Tumblr and deleted all of his posts as a result of the whiff of a rumor of this buyout happening. I don’t think you or anyone else should follow suit, but that’s what people are doing.
As for the “bad idea” chunk of your questions, the problem is this: Yahoo has a reputation for letting acquisitions flounder under its corporate structure. Even the big ones. Delicious, for example, was nearly shut down before the founders of YouTube swooped in and saved it. And Yahoo has also tried the user-generated market before, including with Geocities and Yahoo Meme (which was effectively Yahoo’s failed attempt to create a Tumblr clone). Yahoo has a long list of discontinued products. And while Laurie Voss has a good point about Flickr, there’s a better point here: Building a community with integrity is tough, and change at the top can ruin everything if done the wrong way. I can understand why people might be worried. I’m worried, too. — Ernie @ SFB
P.S.: One key line from the story we linked last night: “sources say the company only has a few months of cash runway left.” Who knows if that’s true, but this is a company that unceremoniously fired its editorial team recently—a move that could be seen in a different light considering that line, though that’s speculative. Tumblr can’t run on dreams and reblogs and investor money forever. Something has to change on the business front to ensure the likes can keep coming. That change can come from the inside, but the change can come more easily from an exit.
Tumblr feels that Yahoo’s $1.1 billion offer as “too low” and view it as “only a first offer”, according to sources close to to acquisition talks. Yahoo may have to significantly increase the offer to close the deal. An acquisition by some tech giant is likely in the cards for Tumblr, though, as sources say the company only has a few months of cash runway left.
… still hope yet, according to TechCrunch.
You might remember Aimee Copeland as the twentysomething who went through a harrowing experience last year, losing most of her limbs after a zip-line accident exposed her to flesh-eating bacteria. Fortunately, though, technology is giving her a second chance. Copeland recently received bionic hands from a company called Touch Bionics—devices which are so effective that she can actually grab things and do tasks that most people take for granted. Amazing stuff.
I am super bored of hearing this.
Could Yahoo have done a better job of managing Flickr? Absolutely.
In retrospect, if they’d been patient and poured money into it like Facebook did with their own photo-sharing features, Flickr might have been a lot bigger. (Facebook is by far the world’s biggest photo-sharing site, and tagged photos was key to its early growth, something Flickr didn’t add until 2007)
But that’s in retrospect. In 2005, it wasn’t at all clear what to do. Everyone in the industry was still feeling the burn of gigantic, unprofitable acquisitions prior to the great crash of 2001, so paying money for an barely-profitable site like Flickr still seemed like madness, even within Yahoo. So Yahoo focussed on making it profitable — and succeeded, which is no mean feat.
Could Flickr have done better staying independent? Absolutely no way.
And the way you can tell that for sure is that they let Yahoo acquire them. It’s not like Yahoo in 2005 had a great reputation; the only reason you’d do it is if you were out of money and out of options. In 2005, nobody was going to give Flickr the hundreds of millions of dollars in fresh capital they needed and hope for the best: it was exit or die.
On top of the bare financial reality, it is an open secret at Yahoo (my former employer) that Flickr’s internals are and have always been an architectural nightmare. They had no idea how to scale and needed huge investment just to dig themselves out of the technical debt they’d accrued. It could have been better, sure, but without Yahoo it would have been much, much worse.
Yahoo didn’t kill Flickr; Yahoo saved Flickr from itself.
Here’s a lesser-heard take on the Yahoo/Tumblr thing from Laurie Voss, who is a former Yahoo employee and has some good insight on the matter as a result.
I thought there was a bombing. I smelled smoke and looked outside the window and saw a whole bunch of dust, and I grabbed my son.Metro North train rider Natalie Sepulveda • Describing the situation she (along with her two-year-old son) experienced immediately in the wake of today’s crash, which has injured 60 people, including five critically. The crash snarled transit around the busy Northeast Corridor, forcing both Metro North and Amtrak to shut down operations north of New York City. Two trains collided near Bridgeport, Ct. during rush hour.
I for one welcome our new Yahoo overlords.
The most concrete confirmation of what’s about to happen yet: “Sources said that the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s CEO Marissa Mayer has decided that buying Tumblr was going to be ‘the stake in the ground of what her strategy is going forward for Yahoo.’”
Two Metro North commuter trains crash, reports of injuries: At least 20-25 people have been injured after two Metro North trains crashed outside of Bridgeport, Ct., the Associated Press reports via its Twitter account. (No fatalities have been reported, however.) The heavily-trafficked train route, between New York City and New Haven, Ct., has been suspended for the time being. (photo via NBC Connecticut)
UPDATE: Reports now have 60 injured, including five critically.
Exclusive: How the Syrian Electronic Army hacked the FT
Matt has an inside line to the SEA; he recently interviewed members of the group.
Good news everyone. Something is probably going to happen that you may not like. Whatever it is will get announced this coming Monday.
soon
YOLO!
If Microsoft tries to acquire them it’d be Mumblr.
If Facebook tries to acquire them it’d be Fumblr.
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
While this is the case (and Facebook and Microsoft are definitely ready to pounce), Yahoo currently has Tumblr negotiations under lock and key, Forbes reports:
A source with knowledge of the Yahoo/Tumblr discussions says they are proceeding rapidly and likely to result in an offer as soon as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer can get her board’s approval. She is said to favor an outright acquisition rather than an investment or partnership. As mentioned above, a lockup agreement prevents Tumblr from holding a bake-off with Facebook, Microsoft or anyone else.
Part of Mayer’s courtship has involved working overtime to convince Karp that his fears of being “absorbed into a behemoth” and “raided for talent and traffic” are unfounded. Karp has made it clear that he would like to run Tumblr for a long time. According to my source, he would remain CEO under the outline of the deal being worked out.
Those last two sentences are key.
Toronto’s mayor denies smoking crack cocaine in video
The Globe and Mail: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has denied claims that he was recently filmed smoking crack cocaine.
“It’s just ridiculous,” he said as he left his home and got into his black SUV. “It’s another Toronto Star…”, he said before shutting his car door and driving away.
Mr. Ford’s response comes after online news site Gawker posted a story in which one of its reporters claimed he had viewed a video in which the mayor was clearly seen smoking crack cocaine.
Photo: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford leaves the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts CFL football game in Hamilton September 3, 2012. (Reuters/Mike Cassese)
How do your respond to a controversy like this, anyway? This is not the kind of thing public officials usually have to deal with.
A couple ticks behind on this, but Newsweek’s redesign is really, really good.
Gawker claims to have seen video of Rob Ford using crack cocaine pipe
A published report says a video that appears to show Toronto mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine is being shopped around by a group of men allegedly involved in the drug trade.
There was no way to verify the video, however, which was the subject of a report on Gawker on Thursday and then became the subject of numerous stories.
The Toronto Star said two of its reporters watched the video and said it appears to show Ford in a room, sitting in a chair, inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe.
A story on the Star website Friday also alleges Ford makes several disparaging and crude remarks about Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and the high school football team he coaches.
A lawyer retained by Ford, Dennis Morris, told the newspaper that Thursday’s publication by the Gawker website of some details related to the video was “false and defamatory.”
In case you missed this last night, because this is definitely not one to miss.
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