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Yahoo 'set to acquire Tumblr' (and its porn collection) for $1 billion plus

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

May 18, 2013 | 3 min read

Yahoo is said to be in talks to buy Tumblr , a service that hosts 108 million blogs, for a sum north of $1 billion.

Mayer: Set to buy Tumblr?

The deal could help the biggest U.S. Web portal lure users and advertisers - and specifically younger people.

But it's not yet a done deal,said Bloomberg. Tumblr, founded in 2007 by David Karp, is also said to have contacted other technology companies seeking to be bought, or form a partnership.

Under CEO Marissa Mayer, Yahoo has been adding features designed to win back users who have gone to sites such as Facebook and Google .

Tumblr got more than 13 billion global page views in the past month, and it recently began letting advertisers pay for prominent placement, putting the company on a path to achieve profitability this year.

Yahoo’s board will meet on May 19 to consider a $1.1 billion all-cash deal to acquire Tumblr, the technology blog, AllThingsD reported yesterday.

Mayer ,CEO since July, has had little to show for her efforts to turn around the company so far, said Bloomberg. Yahoo reported a drop in its main display-advertising business last month.

The attraction for Yahoo! is that Tumblr, is "one of the hottest Internet properties in today’s Web, with access to the coveted youth market and a foothold in mobile," said Bloomberg.

Yahoo could also wind up with a whole lot of porn. There are Tumblrs with such names as We Want Porn, Above Average Porn, Defcon Porn, Porn Gif Haven, POV Porn, Porn and Weed, and When Tumblr porn goes wrong.

"It will be fun to see how these are integrated into Yahoo News," said a Bloomberg writer.

"Tumblr’s terms of service are pretty clear: Sexual material is welcome."

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