Yahoo has merged with blogging site Tumblr, in a $1.1 billion deal that some say might taint the popular social networking site.
The two companies combined forces on Monday, in a deal that CNN says has been rumored to go down since last Thursday.
Yahoo hopes to appeal to a younger set-particularly members of Generation Y who spend large chunks of time surfing blogs and social websites.
But some Tumblr fans have brought up concerns that the site could end up being too advertisement-heavy, marring the dashboard homepage into just another Yahoo.com.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer promised Monday on Twitter that there would be no Yahoo branding on Tumblr.
"We promise not to screw it up," she tweeted.
In conversation with financiers, Mayer called the buyout a "game changer" for Yahoo.
Mayer also compared the merger to some of what she called the most beneficial tech deals in the recent past, including Google's YouTube purchase and PayPal's buyout of eBay. What brought these acquisitions so much success, she said, was the fact that users could hardly tell the difference between sites pre and post-purchase.
She made a point to tell analysts and investors that the deal will grant Yahoo an opportunity to "monetize" Tumblr so that it is "meaningful...to the user experience."
Yahoo has said they hope to not only appeal to more active, young users, they also would like to introduce Tumblr to those who have not yet discovered it.
Tumblr was founded in 2007 and hosts over 105 million blogs, with about 300 million visitors per month and 120,000 new users signing up daily. The site has made famous moveable, looping images called gifs, and photos with witty, block lettered accompanying captions called memes.
Famous Tumblrs include Humans of New York-a blog that features photos of characters seen on NYC streets-and What Should We Call Me?-a satirical, gif-based blog.
Even the White House has a Tumblr.
