For approximately how much did Automattic purchase Tumblr from Verizon in 2019?

Automattic purchased Tumblr from Verizon Media in 2019 for less than $3 million. The exact price was not publicly disclosed, but reporting from Axios placed the deal below that figure.

The sale was striking because Yahoo had acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash in 2013. Verizon later acquired Yahoo and placed Tumblr under its Oath, subsequently renamed Verizon Media. By 2019, Tumblr had struggled with falling traffic, advertising difficulties, and controversy over its stricter adult-content policy.

Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, announced the acquisition in August 2019. CEO Matt Mullenweg said Tumblr would remain a complementary service rather than being folded directly into WordPress.com. The “under” qualification matters: quiz references often round the transaction to approximately $3 million, but the reported figure was below that amount, not an exact publicly confirmed price.