Bangalore: Yahoo, one of the popular search engines of Internet era has approved a deal to buy the well-accepted social blogging service, Tumblr for $ 1.1 billion in cash, reports Wall Street Journal.

The deal is to regain Yahoo’s relevancy in an Internet environment currently dominated by Google, Twitter and Facebook. If confirmed, it would be the largest deal for the company since Marissa Mayer’s take over as CEO in 2012.

According to the sources, neither Yahoo nor Tumblr commented on the report. But Mayer has scheduled a news conference in New York at which the company is said to unveil “something special.”

As Tumblr is popular especially among younger Internet users, it could be a key to Yahoo’s strategy. According to the survey conducted by Survata, an online data group, it was found that Tumblr was more popular than Facebook for those aged 13 to 25. Even though Tumblr generates very little cash, bringing it in will give Yahoo the potential for new advertising and other revenue sources.  

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in New York, Tumblr claims to have more than 108 million blogs, 50 billion postings in 12 languages and 175 employees. As per the reports, Yahoo’s board unanimously approved the deal in a telephone meeting. Adding to it, David Karp, founder and chief executive of Tumblr will receive large profit as well as stay at Yahoo to control over the service for four years.

Recently, Yahoo failed in a bid to take over the online video site Dailymotion after the French government who owned the stake called off the deal. Mayer is on the move to help Yahoo regain its former glory, by emphasizing social media and mobile internet which are the current trend-setters.

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