Yahoo completes acquisition of Tumblr

Yahoo Inc on Thursday announced that it has completed the acquisition of blogging and social networking site Tumblr. The combination is expected to grow Yahoo's audience to more than one billion monthly visitors.

The blogging and social networking site Tumblr is powered by an army of independent creators and home to an audience of more than 300 million unique visitors. Founded by David Karp in 2007, Tumblr is headquartered in New York City. Yahoo said Tumblr will be independently operated, and the product, service and brand will continue to be defined and developed separately by the Tumblr team. David Karp will remain CEO.

Last month, Yahoo had announced the $1.1 billion buyout of Tumblr. The deal marked Yahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer boldest move yet since she left Google 10 months ago to lead Yahoo's latest comeback attempt. It also marked Yahoo's most expensive acquisition since the Sunnyvale, California, company bought online search engine Overture a decade ago for $1.3 billion in cash and stock.

On completion of the deal, Mayer said, "Tumblr is an incredible company. I'm thrilled to officially welcome David and his team to Yahoo."