Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, acquired Tumblr, the Web 2.0 blogging platform, from Yahoo! in 2013, subsequently changing hands to Verizon, and then selling to Automattic in 2019.
In the past 5 years, Automattic has made several changes to Tumblr, both in features and organizational structure. Recently, the company announced plans to change the backend engine of Tumblr to WordPress, without altering any features or UI. This transition, if not publicly announced, would have gone unnoticed.
Automattic rationalized the backend switch as a means to simplify maintenance, allowing for shared backend infrastructure between Tumblr and WordPress. Developing new features can now be done once for both platforms, and Tumblr’s system can also be hosted on WordPress.com servers.
Automattic has confirmed that Tumblr will not be converted into WordPress, as they intentionally acquired Tumblr for its unique features and direction different from WordPress. The transition will take some time, considering Tumblr’s vast database of over 500 million blogs, making it potentially the largest technical migration in Internet history.
TLDR: Automattic acquired Tumblr and plans to change its backend to WordPress for easier maintenance, while keeping the platform’s unique features intact, marking a significant transition in Internet history.
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