Until now, the reports of Yahoo buying Tumblr have been filled with hesitant language and punctuated with question marks. But money talks — and Monday it was confirmed that Yahoo made a $1.1 billion all-cash deal for Tumblr, turning rumor into fact. The purchase wasn’t officially announced until Monday morning, but on Sunday, the tech giant’s board reportedly approved the acquisition of the social-blogging platform without a single dissenting vote.
(MORE: Yahoo!-Tumblr: It’s Not What You Buy, It’s What You Do With It)
News of the deal garnered some mixed reactions from key players in the tech and business worlds, users of the platform, and the general public. While it’s been officially announced that the two companies will be run separately, the reaction was swift from fans and critics alike. Some hoped the purchase would allow Tumblr to grow while continuing business as usual; others weren’t as optimistic, instead congratulating Yahoo on a worthless purchase. Critics thought Yahoo would become a scapegoat for any future changes on Tumblr; and some even started a petition to stop the deal.
(MORE: Yahoo! Acquires Tumblr: Initial Reactions From Around the Web)
But how are Tumblr’s loyal bloggers reacting to the new arrangement? It only makes sense that they’re sounding off on the social-blogging platform that tallies 82.1 million posts each day. We took to Tumblr to get an inside look at the community’s reaction:
Users tried to calculate the dollar value of each individual blog on the site:
And others turned to pop-culture memes to expose their fear of missing out on the Yahoo-Tumblr news:
One user offered this impassioned plea to maintain the status quo amid seemingly rocky seas:
And one couldn’t help but share a pithy note forecasting the worst:
In Monday’s announcement of the deal, Yahoo made a distinct, though slightly crass, promise “not to screw it up.” The deal won’t be finalized until the second half of this year, so Tumblr’s loyal users will have to wait to see the changes the search-engine giant will enact.