Can you buy cool? Yahoo reportedly looking to purchase Tumblr

The platform beloved by fashion bloggers and try-hard newsweeklies alike is closing in on a $1 billion valuation

Tumblr CEO David Karp
(Image credit: Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch)

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wants to have it all, including getting 18-to-24-year-olds to think her company is cool. And lo and behold: Peter Kafka and Kara Swisher at All Things D report that Yahoo is in "serious talks" to partner with or buy what many adults consider the swaggiest hangout on that Internet thingamajig: Tumblr.

It's not the first time that Mayer has reportedly shown interest in "the New York-based hipster blogging service," as All Things D puts it. Only now Tumblr has climbed to a somewhat puzzling $1 billion valuation, and has shown — sometimes to a fault — that it's serious about becoming a "real business."

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Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.