Yahoo buys Tumblr for $1B, promising not to ‘screw it up’

Yahoo bought the popular blogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion, with Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer vowing not to "screw it up" — a comment seen as a reflection of the company's not-quite-with-it reputation.

As if in challenge, this was, for reals, the official announcement: 

Yahoo/Tumblr got brownie points for that one. Still, the company's shares were up less than one percent on the news Monday, with USA Today half-heartedly describing a "positive but lukewarm investor reaction."

Mayer's announcement via GIF may have been cool, but the CEO also committed the social media faux pas of breaking the 140-character tweet rule in the most unintentionally cringeworthy fashion: 

Photo: I’m delighted to announce that we’ve reached an agreement to acquire Tumblr!  We promise not to screw… tmblr.co/Z4v08slQ0n8V

— marissamayer (@marissamayer) May 20, 2013

Er. Awkward. Yep.

She seems like the kind of person who can roll with awkwardness, though. Check out her (entertainingly abbreviated) thoughts on working from home here:

Clearly, she's all hip with the lingo, and doesn't miss a beat on Twitter: 

@davidchow @charlesarthur @tumblr Hmm – marissamayer is also me but because of Tumblr/Flickr I thought I should be marissamayr.tumblr.com 🙂

— marissamayer (@marissamayer) May 20, 2013

But she has a shadow side! Bam:

Marissa Mayer uses two spaces between sentences. She is not to be trusted. ow.ly/lctaT

— Nicholas Jackson (@nbj914) May 20, 2013

The news has some worried Tumblr will be inundated with advertisements. But Mayer assured investors the site will operate independently and not be subject to Yahoo branding. On the contrary, it seems Tumblr will be treated with reverence. Mayer described the acquisition in almost messianic terms on Monday, saying this could be a real "game changer" for the company, according to CNN.

But not everyone is oohing and ahhing over the buy by Yahoo, a company seen as "already showing signs of age:"

More: