Yahoo 'to buy Tumblr in $1.1bn deal'

US company reported to have agreed to buy blogging and social networking site in bid to attract younger user base.

Yahoo CEO Mayer is expected to make an announcement later on Monday at an event in Manhattan [Reuters]

The board of Yahoo has approved a deal to buy blogging and social networking site Tumblr for $1.1bn in cash, according to the Wall Street Journal newspaper. The acquisition of Tumblr, a fast-growing platform popular with young users, would be Marissa Mayer's, Yahoo chief executive, largest deal since taking the helm of the once-iconic internet company in July 2012. Mayer is expected to make an announcement later on Monday at an event in Manhattan in which the company promised to "share something special," without elaborating. Peter Kafka, media reporter at the technology blog All Things Digital, told Al Jazeera that it will take a little time before being able to evaluate whether the potential billion-dollar gamble had paid off. "What [Mayer] has done is something that will immediately add an audience that you can see [and] that you can see the impact of Yahoo's overall reach," he said. "What she's done is something where she can immediately add an audience that you can see that will have an immediate impact on Yahoo's overall reach." Yahoo is keen on fast-growing Tumblr because its younger user base would bolster the older website's "cool factor," according to All Things Digital. Mayer, who spent 13 years at Google, is trying to revitalise a former internet powerhouse that in recent years has struggled with declining business. Yahoo declined to comment, while Tumblr did not respond to requests for information. The deal comes after a recent failed attempt by Yahoo to buy a controlling stake in French video site Dailymotion, owned by France Telecom. Tumblr, one of the more successful internet start-ups out of New York, has only just begun earning revenue through advertising. On its home page, Tumblr says it hosts 108 million blogs, with 50.7 billion posts between them.