CYBERSPACE — Tumblr might have yet another new parent as Verizon seeks to unload the beleaguered blogging platform: Pornhub.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon Communications Inc. is struggling to fortify Verizon Media Group, formerly known as Oath, which holds “the websites and online services acquired when Verizon bought Yahoo in 2017 and AOL in 2015,” notes the paper.
Tonight, Pornhub VP Corey Price told Buzzfeed News the company is “extremely interested” in buying Tumblr. “Price said that restoring Tumblr’s NSFW edge would be central to their acquisition of it, were it to actually happen.”
Tumblr banned pornographic content in December, resulting a precipitous drop in traffic and spawning a small cottage industry of adult-friendly alternatives as well as thousands of mocking memes when its algorithms began to flag content seemingly at random (“Tumblr’s porn ban is going about as badly as expected,” snarked the Ars Technica blog. “Tumblr’s ban on adult content is more than a commercial mistake — it’s a personal loss,” wrote the Independent).
Earlier this week, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg reaffirmed the company’s commitment to its properties and to finding a place for the sites within its overall media strategy. The sale “is ongoing” and may come to naught, notes the Washington Post. However, “Tumblr, it seems, is not necessarily part of that strategy,” observed The Verge. “But now the question becomes whether there’s even a viable buyer for the platform in 2019 that won’t let it slowly wither away."