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In May 2013, Karp sold Tumblr Inc. to Yahoo! for US$1.1 billion. In terms of communicating the platform’s vision though, Karp remained true to creativity, maintaining that if they got it right with Yahoo!, tumblr would in five years “be home to the most aspiring and talented creators all over the world” (Lapowski 2013). Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo!, in turn publicly promised to “not screw it up,” while also emphasizing the potential to bring in more money by selling ads. Under Yahoo!, Karp’s comments on creativity shifted to emphasize creative expression of one’s unique self, on the one hand, but also something enacted by an empowered “creative class” who will change the world (Lapowski 2013), on the other. Increasingly, curation was mentioned as a form of creation. Karp told the BBC that “curation is a new, more accessible way to express yourself” (Mason 2012). In 2014, he said that while other social media platforms are “giant directories of profiles,” tumblr gives people a community where they can be themselves, fulfilling the promise of the internet as “a space where you could really create … an identity that you’re really, truly proud of” (Hamburger 2014). Karp argued that, unlike the “Valley,” where engineers are the shapers of the vision and the experience, tumblr is not interested in data-driven categorization of users, but, instead, instils a mindset that creators, empowered by tumblr, “are going to show us the way” (Hamburger 2014). However, tumblr’s image among trade presses and marketing professionals started to waver. While many stories continued to highlight that tumblr was aesthetically superior and loved by its users, attention was shifting to its revenue-earning potential, as per Mayer’s aim.

Although user numbers kept growing, tumblr’s revenue appeared to come to a standstill (Fell 2014); by the end of 2014, Mayer, under pressure, publicly promised that tumblr would make more than US$100 million in revenue in 2015. She merged Yahoo! and tumblr’s ad sales teams, placing both under a new executive, whose image as a “shark”¹ perhaps explains the mass exodus of tumblr employees that followed. A couple of months later, Mayer reorganized Yahoo!’s leadership, placing David Karp himself under Simon Khalaf. Khalaf would later gain infamy for showing up to a tumblr staff meeting only to perplex everyone with an announcement that tumblr would “be the new PDF” (Fiegerman 2016). Retrospectively, 2015 is marked as the year when Yahoo! completely derailed tumblr. In those retrospective imaginaries, the pre-Yahoo! tumblr is described as having been “the hottest thing on the internet,” a platform that “built strong communities, launched Internet memes, led to countless book deals and helped shape the culture, online and offline,” but also a “vibrant network of powerful cultural commentary,” and one of the more beloved private tech companies in the world (Fiegerman 2016).

In June 2017, the telcom giant Verizon acquired Yahoo! – and tumblr with it. Later in the same year, it merged Yahoo! with its other acquisition, AOL, renaming the group OATH. Shortly after, tumblr’s founder and “mascot” David Karp announced that he was leaving the company, but he did not confirm whether this latest acquisition was the reason. Karp’s goodbye email further reinforced what tumblr’s vision had been under his tenure, stating that he looks back “with so much pride at a generation of artists, writers, creators, curators, and crusaders that have redefined our culture, and who we have helped to empower” (Menegus 2017).