Verizon acquired Yahoo in June 2017, placing Tumblr under Oath.
The transaction closed on June 13, 2017, when Verizon completed its purchase of Yahoo’s operating business. Verizon combined Yahoo’s properties with AOL under a new subsidiary called Oath. Because Tumblr had been acquired by Yahoo in 2013, Tumblr became part of Verizon’s Oath portfolio as well.
Verizon paid about $4.48 billion for Yahoo’s operating assets, a reduced figure after major Yahoo data breaches complicated the original deal. Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer departed when the acquisition closed, while the remaining corporate entity was renamed Altaba and retained Yahoo’s stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan.
Oath’s portfolio included Yahoo, AOL, Tumblr, HuffPost, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail, and other digital-media brands. The Oath name did not last permanently: Verizon renamed the division Verizon Media in 2019, and Verizon later sold Verizon Media to Apollo Global Management in 2021. That later ownership change can cause confusion, but the specific moment Tumblr entered the Oath structure was June 2017.