94-477: Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational technology company that focuses on media and online business. It is the second and current incarnation of the company, after Verizon Communications acquired the core assets of its predecessor and merged them with AOL in 2017. The resulting subsidiary entity was briefly called Oath Inc . In December 2018, Verizon announced it would write down the combined value of its purchases of AOL and Yahoo! by $ 4.6 billion, roughly half;
188-488: A fleet telematics system company in Dublin, Ireland , for $ 2.4 billion, to build products that it offers to enterprises for logistics and mobile workforces. On September 12, 2016, Verizon announced its acquisition of Sensity, a startup for LED sensors , in an effort to bolster its IoT portfolio. A few months later, Verizon acquired mapping startup SocialRadar, whose technology would be integrated with MapQuest . Verizon
282-435: A heteronormative mainstream industry) seeking an outlet for their work, and those seeking a safe haven from "over-policed" platforms to share creative work with adult themes. Tumblr stated that it was using various algorithms to detect potential violations, in combination with manual reviews. Users quickly discovered a wide array of false positives . A large number of users scheduled protest actions on December 17. On
376-491: A portmanteau of veritas (Latin for "truth") and horizon . In 2015, Verizon expanded into content ownership by acquiring AOL , and two years later, it acquired Yahoo! Inc. AOL and Yahoo were amalgamated into a new division named Oath Inc., which was rebranded as Verizon Media in January 2019, and was spun off and rebranded to Yahoo! Inc. after its sale to Apollo Global Management . As of 2016 , Verizon
470-583: A $ 50 billion lawsuit was filed by two lawyers on behalf of all Verizon subscribers for privacy violations and to prevent the company from releasing additional records without consent or warrant. Protesters staged the National Day of Out(R)age due in part to the controversy. In 2007, Verizon stated that it fulfilled only "lawful demands" for information, but also acknowledged surrendering customer information to government agencies without court orders or warrants 720 times between 2005 and 2007. Verizon won
564-511: A British teenager, Tallulah Wilson, raised the issue of suicide and self-harm promotion on Tumblr as Wilson was reported to have maintained a self-harm blog on the site. A user on the site is reported to have sent Wilson an image of a noose accompanied by the message: "here is your new necklace, try it on." In response to the Wilson case, Maria Miller , the UK's minister for culture, media, and sport at
658-521: A Mobelux application in BlackBerry World . In June 2012, Tumblr released a new version of its iOS app, Tumblr 3.0, allowing support for Spotify integration, hi-res images and offline access. An app for Android is also available. A Windows Phone app was released on April 23, 2013. An app for Google Glass was released on May 16, 2013. Tumblr blogs have the option to allow users to submit questions, either as themselves or anonymously, to
752-475: A billion customers. As a result, Verizon lowered its offer for Yahoo! by $ 350 million to $ 4.48 billion. The AOL deal and subsequent Yahoo! purchase were led by Verizon's management team, including Lowell McAdam (CEO), Marni Walden (EVP Product) and Tim Armstrong . Walden had been tasked with merging the two entities and delivering on the promise of moving Verizon from an analog to digital platforms business. Walden exited Verizon in 2017 and as later events revealed,
846-543: A chain letter scam in May 2011 affected 130,000 users. On December 3, 2012, Tumblr was attacked by a cross-site scripting worm deployed by the internet troll group Gay Nigger Association of America . The message urged users to harm themselves and criticized blogging in general. In 2015, Tumblr faced criticism by users for changes to its reblog mechanisms. In July 2015, the system was modified so that users cannot remove or edit individual comments by other users when reblogging
940-466: A copyright infringement complaint filed on legal archive Lumen and without checking the veracity of the source, Google delisted the Project Brazen article from its search results. Tumblr later confirmed that it had removed several accounts and posts from its platform following the alleged abuse of the site by Srivastava. Tumblr has been forced to manage spam and security problems. For example,
1034-544: A deal in April 2017 whereby Verizon would purchase 12.4 million miles of optical fiber per year from Corning from 2018 through 2020. Months later, Verizon purchased WideOpenWest 's fiber-optic assets in the Chicago market for $ 225 million. Also in 2017, Verizon was sued by New York City for violating its cable franchise agreement, which required the provider to pass a fiberoptic network to all households in
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#17327829913061128-410: A feature on Tumblr that allows users to re-post content taken from another blog onto their own blog with attribution. In addition to these copyright infringements, Tumblr has at times been weaponised by individuals seeking to raise DMCA notices against other sites. Former Wall Street Journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bradley Hope and his investigative publication Project Brazen published
1222-414: A flat view, and user avatars were also added. The change was intended to improve the legibility of reblogs, especially on mobile platforms, and complements the inability to edit existing comments. Although some users had requested such a change to combat posts made illegible by extremely large numbers of comments on a reblogged post, the majority of users (even those who had requested such a change) criticized
1316-477: A lawsuit against Vonage for patent infringement in March 2007. The three patents named were filed by Bell Atlantic in 1997, and relate to the conversion of IP addresses into phone numbers, a key technology of Vonage's business. The company was awarded US$ 58 million in damages and future royalties. Vonage later lost an appeal and was ordered to pay Verizon $ 120 million. In May 2007, Verizon acquired CyberTrust ,
1410-564: A new division to serve the company's business and government customers. The FCC approved the deal on October 31, 2005, valuing it at $ 8.5 billion. Verizon's 2006 revenues rose by as much as 20% following the purchase. USA Today reported in May 2006 that Verizon, as well as AT&T and BellSouth , had given the National Security Agency landline phone records following the September 11 attacks . That same month,
1504-890: A part of the index since the Great Depression . Verizon launched its Fios Internet service, which transmits data over fiber optic cables, in Keller, Texas , in 2004. The company launched Fios TV in September 2005, also in Keller. Twenty percent of qualified homes had signed up by the end of 2004. By January 2006, Fios offered over 350 channels in seven states, including 20 high-definition television channels and video on demand . Mail servers at Verizon.net were configured in December 2004 to not accept connections from Europe by default in an attempt to reduce spam email that
1598-497: A possible buyout. Charter reportedly rejected the deal around the end of May 2017, citing that the offer was too low for them to accept, and its largest shareholder Liberty Media stated that they were not ready to sell. Verizon added to its fiber-optic network and 5G capabilities in February 2017 when it closed its $ 1.8 billion acquisition of XO Communications ' fiber-optic network business. Verizon and Corning Inc. announced
1692-469: A post; existing comments can only be removed all at once. Tumblr staff argued that the change was intended to combat "misattribution", though this move was met by criticism from 'ask blogs' and "RP blogs', which often shortened long chains of reblogs between users to improve readability. In September 2015, Tumblr changed how threads of comments on reblogged posts are displayed; rather than a nested view with indentations for each post, all reblogs are now shown in
1786-489: A privately held provider of global information security services. In September 2007, Verizon Wireless reversed a controversial decision to deny NARAL Pro-Choice America a short code through which the organization could text consumers who had signed up for messaging from the group. The company had initially refused the group access to a code by reserving the right to block "controversial or unsavory" messages. Verizon opened its networks to third party apps and devices for
1880-457: A profit of $ 32.5 billion. The same report also criticized Verizon for increasing executive pay by 167% in 2010 for its top five executives while laying off 21,308 workers between 2008 and 2010. However, in its Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 24, 2012, Verizon reported having paid more than $ 11.1 billion in taxes (including income, employment and property taxes) from 2009 to 2011. In addition,
1974-723: A report detailing the problems that led to the failure in January 2013. Verizon reported that it had already addressed or was addressing a number of the issues related to the FCC report, including the causes of generator failures, conducting audits of backup systems, and making its monitoring systems less centralized, although the FCC indicated that Verizon still needed to make additional improvements. The FCC ruled that Verizon must stop charging users an added fee for using 4G smartphones and tablets as Wi-Fi hotspots (known as " tethering "). Verizon had been charging its customers, even those with "unlimited" plans, $ 20 per month for tethering. As part of
SECTION 20
#17327829913062068-514: A settlement with AT&T Corporation to breakup the Bell System. Bell Atlantic Corporation was created as one of the original " Baby Bell " Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) in 1984. Bell Atlantic's original roster of operating companies included: In 1996, CEO and Chairman Raymond W. Smith orchestrated Bell Atlantic's merger with NYNEX . When it merged, it moved its corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to New York City. NYNEX
2162-566: A story on 10 October 2023 reporting that Indian businessman Gaurav Srivastava was fraudlently representing himself as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency ( the Gaurav Srivastava Fake Spy Scam ). Shortly after, a fake blog was created on blogging site Tumblr that republished the content of their story and backdated it to 8 October 2023, two days before their article came out. Following
2256-946: A support office in Richmond, Virginia . As of June 1, 2017 , Tumblr had 411 employees. Tumblr (and Automattic) now has a mostly distributed workforce , with a small office in San Francisco. The company's logo is set in Bookman Old Style with some modifications. As of 2011 , Tumblr had received about $ 125 million of funding from investors. The company has raised funding from Union Square Ventures , Spark Capital , Martín Varsavsky , John Borthwick ( Betaworks ), Fred Seibert, Krum Capital, and Sequoia Capital (among other investors). In its first round of funding in October 2007, Tumblr raised $ 750,000 from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. In December 2008
2350-509: A three-year continuous expansion of the 4G service. Verizon acquired Terremark , an information technology services company, for $ 1.4 billion in early 2011. Ivan Seidenberg retired as Verizon's CEO on August 1, 2011, and was succeeded by Lowell McAdam . In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Verizon for its tax avoidance procedures after it spent $ 52.34 million on lobbying while collecting $ 951 million in tax rebates between 2008 and 2010 and making
2444-492: A user may add their comments in the tags, not changing the content or appearance of the original post in any way. Not all users choose to use tags this way, but those who do use tags for commentary may prefer it over adding a comment on the actual post. With Tumblr's 2009 acquisition of Tumblerette, an iOS application created by Jeff Rock and Garrett Ross, the service launched its official iPhone app. The site became available to BlackBerry smartphones on April 17, 2010, via
2538-433: Is a microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by American company Automattic . The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog . Development of Tumblr began in 2006 during a two-week gap between contracts at David Karp 's software consulting company, Davidville. Karp had been interested in tumblelogs (short-form blogs, hence
2632-623: Is headquartered in Manhattan , New York. As of December 2019, the company employed about 10,350 people. A year after the completion of the AOL acquisition, Verizon announced a $ 4.8 billion deal for Yahoo!'s core Internet business, to invest in the Internet company's search , news , finance , sports , video , emails and Tumblr products. Yahoo! announced in September and December 2016 two major Internet security breaches affecting more than
2726-477: Is in the post (e.g. #art, #sky). These are important for the original poster to use, so their post will be indexed and searchable by others wishing to view that subject of content. Tags used as a form of communication are unique to Tumblr, and are typically more personal, expressing opinions, reactions, meta-commentary, background information, and more. Instead of adding onto the reblogged post (with their comments becoming an addition to each subsequent reblog from them)
2820-549: Is not only permitted on Tumblr but actively encouraged." Wired cited multiple potential factors in the ban, including that the presence of adult content made the service unappealing to potential advertisers, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (a U.S. federal law which makes websites liable for knowingly assisting or facilitating illegal sex trafficking ), as well as heavy restrictions on adult content imposed by Apple for software offered on
2914-602: Is one of three remaining companies with roots in the former Baby Bells. The other two, like Verizon, exist as a result of mergers among fellow former Baby Bell members. SBC Communications bought the Bells' former parent AT&T Corporation and took on the AT&;T name, and CenturyLink acquired Qwest (formerly US West ) in 2011 and later became Lumen Technologies in 2020. In 1983, the US Department of Justice came to
Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3008-491: Is scheduled to be removed on June 1, 2024 due to low usage. Tumblr has been noted for the socially progressive views of its users. In 2011, the service was most popular with the teen and college-aged user segments with half of Tumblr's visitor base being under the age of 25. In April 2013, the website received more than 13 billion global page views. User activity, measured by the number of blog posts per quarter, peaked at over 100 million in early 2014 and declined in each of
3102-664: Is the largest wireless carrier in the United States , with 114.2 million subscribers as of September 30, 2024. The company was formed in 1984 as Bell Atlantic as a result of the breakup of the Bell System into seven companies, each a Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC), commonly referred to as "Baby Bells." The company was originally headquartered in Philadelphia and operated in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. In 1997, Bell Atlantic expanded into New York and
3196-788: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and approved by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that required Verizon to provide the National Security Agency (NSA) with telephone metadata for all calls originating in the U.S. Verizon Wireless was not part of the NSA data collection for wireless accounts due to foreign ownership issues. Verizon purchased Vodafone's 45% stake in Verizon in September 2013 for $ 130 billion. The deal closed on February 21, 2014, and became
3290-634: The New England states by merging with fellow Baby Bell NYNEX . While Bell Atlantic was the surviving company, the merged company moved its headquarters from Philadelphia to NYNEX's old headquarters in New York City. In 2000, Bell Atlantic acquired GTE , which operated telecommunications companies across most of the rest of the country not already in Bell Atlantic's footprint. Bell Atlantic, the surviving entity, changed its name to Verizon,
3384-796: The iOS App Store (which similarly prompted several Reddit clients to heavily frustrate the ability for users to access forums on the site that contain adult content). In January 2022, Tumblr reached a settlement with New York City's Commission on Human Rights, which had claimed that the 2018 ban on adult content disproportionately affected LGBTQ+ users. The agreement required the company to review its algorithms, revise its appeals process and review closed cases, and train its human moderators on diversity and inclusion issues. In November 2022, Tumblr changed its rules to allow nudity, but not sexually explicit images. Tumblr's headquarters were at 770 Broadway in New York City . The company also maintains
3478-546: The 2012 settlement, Verizon made a voluntary payment of $ 1.25 million to the U.S. Treasury . In August 2012, the Department of Justice approved Verizon's purchase of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum from a consortium of cable companies, including Comcast , Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks , for $ 3.9 billion. Verizon began expanding its LTE network utilizing these extra airwaves in October 2013. The Guardian reported it had obtained an order by
3572-802: The FCC's net neutrality rules and the FCC's determination that broadband access is a public utility rather than a luxury. AT&T and the telecom industry said they would seek to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court . The Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon received more than 1,000 requests for information about its subscribers on national security grounds via National Security Letters . In total, Verizon received 321,545 requests from federal, state and local law enforcement for U.S. customer information. In May 2015, Verizon agreed to pay $ 90 million "to settle federal and state investigations into allegations mobile customers were improperly billed for premium text messages." Verizon Wireless launched
3666-486: The Internet speed of the time to 144 kb per second. In August 2002, Verizon began offering local, long-distance and mobile calling, as well as Internet service, in a bundle . It was initially only available to customers in New York and Massachusetts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added Verizon Communications to its stock market index in April 2004. Verizon replaced telecom competitor AT&T, which had been
3760-602: The Oath apps and Samsung's own Galaxy and Game Launcher apps. On September 12, 2018, it was announced that K. Guru Gowrappan would succeed Tim Armstrong as CEO, effective October 1. On December 3, 2018, the company declared a new set of rules for the Tumblr community that took effect December 17, 2018, banning "adult content". This move raised objections that it harms their LGBTQ community, sexual abuse survivors, sex workers, adult content blogs, and other bloggers. The move came after
3854-528: The Tumblr app was removed from the Apple App Store due to issues with child pornography, leading some to speculate that the ban may have been made to regain access to the App Store. In December 2018, Verizon announced that it was cutting 10% of Oath's workforce and would write down the value of the business by $ 4.6B. Verizon management blamed competitive pressures and that the business never achieved
Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3948-515: The Verizon Media would be acquired by Apollo Global Management for roughly $ 5 billion, and would simply be known as Yahoo following the closure of the deal, with Verizon retaining a minor 10% stake in the new group. The acquisition was completed on September 1, 2021, with the company now known as Yahoo. On September 10, 2021, Jim Lanzone , who had most recently served as CEO of Tinder , was named CEO of Yahoo, succeeding Gowrappan. Some of
4042-546: The announcement, Tumblr's Android app was patched to remove the ability to disable Safe Mode. The change faced wide criticism among Tumblr's community; in particular, it has been argued that the service should have focused on other major issues (such as controlling hate speech or the number of porn-related spambots on the service), and that the service's adult community provided a platform for sex education , independent adult performers (especially those representing LGBT communities who feel that they are under-represented by
4136-552: The anticipated benefits. The move wiped out all of the goodwill on the balance sheets that accompanied the acquisitions. On January 8, 2019, Oath was renamed Verizon Media. In August 2019, Verizon sold Tumblr to Automattic , the owner of WordPress.com , for an undisclosed amount that was reportedly less than $ 3 million. In November 2020, Verizon sold HuffPost to BuzzFeed . in an all-stock deal, remaining minority shareholder in Buzzfeed. On May 3, 2021, Verizon announced that
4230-402: The average ad purchase on Tumblr to be nearly six figures. Tumblr also allows premium theme templates to be sold for use by blogs. In July 2016, advertisements were implemented by default across all blogs. Users may opt-out, and the service stated that a revenue sharing program would be implemented at a later date. In February 2022, Tumblr launched an ad-free subscription option that removes
4324-422: The blog for a response. Tumblr also previously offered a "fan mail" function, allowing users to send messages to blogs that they followed. On November 10, 2015, Tumblr introduced an integrated instant messaging function, allowing users to chat with other Tumblr users. The feature was rolled out in a "viral" manner; it was initially made available to a group of 1,500 users, and other users could receive access to
4418-399: The city by June 30, 2014. Verizon disputed the claims, citing landlords not granting permission to install the equipment on their properties, and an understanding with the government that the fiber network would follow the same routes as its copper lines, and did not necessarily mean it would have to pass the lines in front of every property. Verizon Connect was created in 2018, combining
4512-552: The company raised $ 4.5 million in Series B funding and a further $ 5 million in April 2010. In December 2010, Tumblr raised $ 30 million in Series D funding. The company had an $ 800 million valuation in August 2011. In September 2011, the company raised $ 85 million in a round of funding led by Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners . In an interview with Nicole Lapin of Bloomberg West on September 7, 2012, David Karp said
4606-673: The company reported in the 10-K that most of the drop in employment since 2008 was due to a voluntary retirement offer. Verizon purchased Hughes Telematics, a producer of wireless features for automobiles , for $ 612 million in June 2012 as part of its strategy to expand into new growth areas in its wireless business. The same month, Verizon's E-911 service failed in the aftermath of the June 2012 derecho storm in several northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., with some problems lasting several days. The FCC conducted an investigation and released
4700-696: The company spun off wirelines in Arizona , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Michigan , Nevada , North Carolina , Ohio , Oregon , South Carolina , Washington , West Virginia , and Wisconsin into a company that then merged with Frontier Communications in a deal valued at $ 8.6 billion. It sold its interests in telecommunications providers in the Dominican Republic (Verizon Dominicana, previously CODETEL ), Puerto Rico and Venezuela to América Móvil . A decade later, it would continue moves to invest in wireless. In 2015, American Tower Corp. acquired
4794-413: The company would be renamed Verizon Media the following month in January 2019. On May 3, 2021, Verizon announced that 90 percent of the division would be acquired by American private equity firm Apollo Global Management for roughly $ 5 billion, and would simply be known as Yahoo ; Verizon would retain a ten percent stake in the new group. The acquisition was completed on September 1, 2021. The company
SECTION 50
#17327829913064888-410: The company's initial $ 6.75 billion offer in February but then received a higher offer from Qwest Communications . Verizon increased its bid to $ 7.6 billion, which MCI accepted on March 29, 2005. The acquisition gave the company access to MCI's million corporate clients and international holdings, expanding Verizon's presence into global markets. As a result, Verizon Business was established as
4982-456: The company's initial public offering (IPO) (the IPO was ultimately cancelled in 2003 because the company no longer needed to raise revenue for Verizon Wireless due to increased profits), and created a backlog of repairs. This strike did not involve all company employees, as most line technicians and user technicians of the company are in a union. Verizon launched 3G service in 2002, which doubled
5076-428: The company's top priority was to restore service to customers as quickly as possible, and that VoiceLink was a means of doing so in the event that larger repairs had to be done to the infrastructure. The spokesperson stated that it was "hard to argue with disciplining someone who intentionally leaves a customer without service". Verizon was reported to be in talks with Charter Communications in January 2017 to discuss
5170-406: The company. The site, along with the rest of the Oath division (renamed Verizon Media Group in 2019), continued to struggle under Verizon. In March 2019, SimilarWeb estimated Tumblr had lost 30% of its user traffic since December 2018, when the site had introduced a stricter content policy with heavier restrictions on adult content (which had been a notable draw to the service). In May 2019, it
5264-857: The content policy decisions made during Verizon ownership. In November 2022, Mullenweg stated that Tumblr will add support for the decentralized social networking protocol ActivityPub . In November 2023, most of Tumblr's product development and marketing teams were transferred to other groups within Automattic. Mullenweg stated that focus would shift to core functionality and streamlining existing features. In February 2024, Automattic announced that it would begin selling user data from Tumblr and WordPress.com to Midjourney and OpenAI . Tumblr users are opted-in by default, with an option to opt out. In August 2024, Automattic announced that it would migrate Tumblr's backend to an architecture derived from WordPress, in order to ease development and code sharing between
5358-424: The copper lines. VoiceLink has limitations, including incompatibility with services or devices that require the transmission of data over the telephone line, and a dependency on battery backup in case of power failure. The memo warned that technicians who do not follow this procedure would be subject to "disciplinary action up to and including dismissal". A Verizon spokesperson responded to the allegations, stating that
5452-497: The day the ban took effect, Tumblr issued a new post clarifying the new policy, showcasing examples of adult images still allowed on the service, and stating that it "fully recognized" its "special obligation" to serving its LGBT userbase, and that "LGBTQ+ conversations, exploration of sexuality and gender, efforts to document the lives and challenges of those in the sex worker industry, and posts with pictures, videos, and GIFs of gender reassignment surgery are all examples of content that
5546-462: The deal was finalized on June 20, 2013. Advertising sales goals were not met and in 2016 Yahoo wrote down $ 712 million of Tumblr's value. Verizon Communications acquired Yahoo in June 2017, and placed Yahoo and Tumblr under its Oath subsidiary. Karp announced in November 2017 that he would be leaving Tumblr by the end of the year. Jeff D'Onofrio, Tumblr's president and COO, took over leading
5640-473: The digital media brands under Yahoo include: It had partial ownership of Moviefone 's former parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc., until its liquidation in 2020. Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( / v ə ˈ r aɪ z ən / və- RY -zən ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City . It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network
5734-571: The exclusive right to lease, acquire or otherwise operate and manage many of Verizon's wireless towers for an upfront payment of $ 5.1 billion, which also included payment for the sale of approximately 165 towers. Verizon used the funds from this sale to support a $ 10.4 billion purchase of AWS-3 spectrum licenses at an FCC auction. In 2016, Verizon sold its wireline operations in Texas, Florida, and California to Frontier. Verizon began negotiations in 2005 to purchase long-distance carrier MCI , who accepted
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#17327829913065828-821: The first time in 2007, a decision that allowed it to participate in the FCC's 2008 700 MHz auction of "open access" spectrum . During that auction, the company bid $ 9.4 billion and won the bulk of national and local licenses for airwaves reaching approximately 469 million people. Verizon utilized the increased spectrum for its 4G service. Verizon acquired Rural Cellular Corp. for $ 2.7 billion in cash and assumed debt in 2008. That summer, Verizon announced it would purchase wireless carrier Alltel for $ 28.1 billion. The acquisition included 13 million customers, which allowed Verizon Wireless to surpass AT&T in number of customers and reach new markets in rural areas. 4chan began receiving reports on February 4, 2010, from Verizon Wireless customers that were having difficulties accessing
5922-458: The following July. In November 2019, Tumblr introduced "group chats"— ephemeral chat rooms surfaced via searches, designed to allow users to share content in real-time with users who share their interests. Posts would disappear after 24 hours and could not be edited. The group chat function was discontinued on September 22, 2021. On July 21, 2021, Tumblr launched Post+ for some beta users, allowing bloggers to monetize their content. Post+
6016-969: The individual Telematics, Fleetmatics, and Telogis units. On December 10, 2018, Verizon announced that 10,400 managers had agreed to leave the company as part of a "voluntary separation program" offered to 44,000 employees, resulting in a cut of around 7% of its workforce. At the same time, the company announced a $ 4.6 billion write-off on its media division, citing "increased competitive and market pressures throughout 2018 that have resulted in lower-than-expected revenues and earning." Verizon underwent structural and organizational changes from 2018 to 2019. Hans Vestberg succeeded Lowell McAdam as CEO on August 1, 2018. Vestberg's strategy focused on Verizon's 5G technology. In early 2019, Verizon reorganized itself into three new divisions—Consumer, Business and Media. Verizon began offering anti-spam and robocalling features free of charge to all customers beginning in March 2019. Tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler")
6110-616: The integration did not deliver the expected value. Two months before closing the deal for Yahoo!, Verizon announced it would place Yahoo! and AOL under an umbrella named Oath. The deal closed on June 13, 2017, and Oath was launched. Upon completion of the deal, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer resigned. Yahoo! operations not acquired in the deal were renamed Altaba , a holding company whose primary assets are its 15.5 percent stake in Alibaba Group and 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo! Japan . After
6204-605: The marketing from microblogs for $ 5 per month, or $ 40 per year. During an AMA on 11 July 2023, the CEO said that Tumblr was financially in the red, losing $ 30 million a year. Tumblr has received criticism for copyright violations by participating bloggers; however, Tumblr accepts Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down notices . Tumblr's visual appeal has made it ideal for photoblogs that often include copyrighted works from others that are re-published without payment. Tumblr users can post unoriginal content by "Reblogging",
6298-916: The merger, Oath cut fifteen percent of the Yahoo-AOL workforce. In 2018, Altaba sold Yahoo! Japan to SoftBank Group . In April 2018, Helios and Matheson Analytics acquired the Moviefone movie listings website from Oath, in consideration for which Verizon took a stake in Helios and Matheson. In April 2018, Verizon sold Flickr to SmugMug , for an undisclosed amount. In May 2018, Verizon and Samsung agreed to terms that would preload four Oath mobile apps onto Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphones. The agreement includes Oath's Newsroom, Yahoo! Sports , Yahoo! Finance , and go90 mobile video apps (closed in July 2018), with integration of native Oath advertisements into both
6392-519: The messaging system if they were sent a message by any user that had received access to the system itself. The messaging platform replaces the fan mail system, which was deprecated. The ability to send posts to others via the Dashboard was added the following month. In May 2012, Tumblr launched Storyboard, a blog managed by an in-house editorial team which features stories and videos about noteworthy blogs and users on Tumblr. In April 2013, Storyboard
6486-596: The name Tumblr) for some time and was waiting for one of the established blogging platforms to introduce their own tumblelogging platform. As none had done so after a year of waiting, Karp and developer Marco Arment began working on their own platform. Tumblr was launched in February 2007, and within two weeks had gained 75,000 users. Arment left the company in September 2010 to work on Instapaper . In June 2012, Tumblr featured its first major brand advertising campaign in collaboration with Adidas , who launched an official soccer Tumblr blog and bought ad placements on
6580-500: The new format. The Verge was also critical of the changes, noting that it was cleaner, but made the site lose its "nostalgic charm". While Tumblr's userbase has generally been received as accommodating people from a wide range of ideologies and identities, a common point of criticism is that attitudes from users on the site stifle discussion and discourse. In 2015, members of the Steven Universe fandom drove an artist to
6674-446: The next three years, to approximately 30 million by October 2018. As of May 2019 , Tumblr hosted over 465 million blogs and more than 172 billion posts in total with over 21 million posts created on the site each day. According to then-CEO Jeff D’Onofrio, members of Generation Z made up 48% of active and 61% of new users, reflecting a resurgence in activity on the platform. Multiple researchers looking into Tumblr have found that
6768-427: The operator of blog service WordPress.com and corporate backer of the open source blog software of the same name . The sale was for an undisclosed amount, but Axios reported that the sale price was less than $ 3 million, less than 0.3% of Yahoo's original purchase price. Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg stated that the site will operate as a complementary service to WordPress.com, and that there were no plans to reverse
6862-407: The platforms. The company stated that this migration would not impact the service's user experience and content, and that users "won't even notice a difference from the outside". The tagging system on the website operates on a hybrid tagging system, involving both self-tagging (user write their own tags on their posts) and an auto-manual function (the website will recommend popular tags and ones that
6956-525: The point of attempting suicide over their artwork, in which they drew characters thin that are typically seen as being 'fat' in the show. In 2018, Kotaku reporter Gita Jackson described the site as a 'joyless black hole', citing how the website's design and functionality led to 'fandoms spinning out of control', as well as an environment that inhibited discussion and discourse. In February 2012, Tumblr banned blogs that promote or advocate suicide, self-harm and eating disorders ( pro-ana ). The suicide of
7050-462: The service. Exceptions are provided for illustrations or art that depict nudity, nudity related to "political or newsworthy speech", and depictions of "female-presenting" nipples in relation to medical events such as childbirth , breastfeeding , mastectomy and gender reassignment surgery . The rules do not apply to text content. All posts in violation of the policy are hidden from public view, and repeat offenders may be reprimanded. Shortly prior to
7144-414: The site was monetized by advertising. Their first advertising launch started in May 2012 after 16 experimental campaigns. Tumblr made $ 13 million in revenue in 2012 and hoped to make $ 100 million in 2013. Tumblr reportedly spent $ 25 million to fund operations in 2012. In 2013, Tumblr began allowing companies to pay to promote their own posts to a larger audience. Tumblr Head of Sales, Lee Brown, has quoted
7238-409: The site's image boards. Administrators of the site found that only traffic on port 80 to the boards.4chan.org domain was affected, leading them to believe the block was intentional. On February 7, 2010, Verizon Wireless confirmed that 4chan.org was "explicitly blocked" after Verizon's security and external experts detected sweep attacks coming from an IP address associated with the 4chan network. Traffic
7332-517: The site. In July 2013, Tumblr began to filter content in adult-tagged blogs from appearing in search results and tagged displays unless the user was logged in. In February 2018, Safe Mode (which filters "sensitive" content and blogs) became enabled by default for all users on an opt-out basis. On December 3, 2018, Tumblr announced that effective December 17, all images and videos depicting sex acts, and real-life images and videos depicting human genitalia or "female-presenting" nipples, would be banned from
7426-550: The technology news website SugarString in October 2014. The publication attracted controversy after it was reported that its writers were forbidden from publishing articles related to net neutrality or domestic surveillance . Although Verizon denied that this was the case, the site (described as being a pilot project) was shuttered in December. In August 2015, Verizon launched Hum , a service and device offering vehicle diagnostic and monitoring tools for vehicles. On August 1, 2016, Verizon announced its acquisition of Fleetmatics ,
7520-596: The third largest corporate deal ever signed, giving Verizon Communications sole ownership of Verizon Wireless. On January 14, 2014, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC's net neutrality rules after Verizon filed suit against them in January 2010. In June 2016, in a 184-page ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld, by a 2–1 vote,
7614-601: The time. Bell Atlantic changed its name to Verizon Communications in June 2000, when the FCC approved the US$ 64.7 billion merger with telephone company GTE, nearly two years after the deal was proposed in July 1998. The merger was announced on April 4. The name Verizon derives from the combination of the words veritas , Latin for truth, and horizon . The approval came with 25 stipulations to preserve competition between local phone carriers, including investing in new markets and broadband technologies. The new entity
7708-431: The user dashboard. This launch came only two months after Tumblr announced it would be moving towards paid advertising on its site. On May 20, 2013, it was announced that Yahoo and Tumblr had reached an agreement for Yahoo! Inc. to acquire Tumblr for $ 1.1 billion in cash. Many of Tumblr's users were unhappy with the news, causing some to start a petition, achieving nearly 170,000 signatures. David Karp remained CEO and
7802-436: The user has used before.) Only the first 20 tags added to any post will be indexed by the site. The tags are prefaced by a hashtag and separated by commas, and spaces and special characters are allowed, but only up to 140 characters total per tag. There are two main types used by Tumblr users: descriptive tagging, and opinion or commentary tagging. Descriptive tags are usually introduced by the original poster, and describe what
7896-453: The venture. Vodafone retained 45% of the company. The deal was valued at approximately $ 70 billion and created a mobile carrier with 23 million customers. Verizon Wireless merged Bell Atlantic's wireless network, Vodafone's AirTouch and PrimeCo holdings, and the wireless division of GTE. Due to its size, Verizon Wireless was able to offer national coverage at competitive rates, giving it an advantage over regional providers typical of
7990-540: The website acceptable and safe. At the time of its acquisition by Yahoo, Tumblr was described by technology journalists as having a sizable amount of pornographic content . An analysis conducted by news and technology site TechCrunch on May 20, 2013, showed that over 22% of all traffic in and out of Tumblr was classified as pornography. In addition, a reported 16.45% of blogs on Tumblr exclusively contained pornographic material. Following July 2013 and its acquisition by Yahoo, Tumblr progressively restricted adult content on
8084-463: The website is often used as for community-building and a place to explore identity formation and gender expression for LGBT groups. Prior to the 2018 adult content ban, transgender users posted their personal gender transitioning experiences, including photos of post gender-confirming surgery and the healing process. Many users felt that the ability to be anonymous, or cultivate the identity they were transitioning to, made posting personal information to
8178-559: Was accused by Communications Workers of America of deliberately refusing to maintain its copper telephone service in 2016. The organization released internal memos and other documents stating that Verizon workers in Pennsylvania were being instructed to, in areas with network problems, migrate voice-only customers to VoiceLink, a system that delivers telephone service over the Verizon Wireless network, instead of repairing
8272-568: Was consolidated into the Bell Atlantic name by 1997. Two months before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave final approval on the formation of Verizon Communications, Bell Atlantic formed Verizon Wireless in a joint venture with the British telecommunications company Vodafone in April 2000. The companies established Verizon Wireless as its own business operated by Bell Atlantic, which owned 55% of
8366-649: Was headed by co-CEOs Charles Lee, former CEO of GTE , and Bell Atlantic CEO Ivan Seidenberg . Verizon became the largest local telephone company in the United States, operating 63 million telephone lines in 40 states. The company also inherited 25 million mobile phone customers. Additionally, Verizon offered internet services and long-distance calling in New York, before expanding long-distance operations to other states. Approximately 85,000 Verizon workers went on an 18-day labor strike in August 2000 after their union contracts expired. The strike affected quarterly revenues, resulting in Verizon Wireless' postponement of
8460-844: Was originating from the region. Individual domains would only be unblocked upon request. The move was criticized by its customers for disrupting their communications without notice, causing them to initiate a class-action lawsuit. Verizon proposed a settlement in April 2006. Beginning in 2005, Verizon reinforced its focus on its mobile phone, Internet, and TV businesses by selling a number of its U.S.-based wireline-focused businesses and international assets. It sold 700,000 lines in Hawaii in 2005, and spun off lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in January 2007, which were then purchased by FairPoint Communications for $ 2.72 billion. Verizon also shed its telephone directory business in 2006. In May 2009,
8554-452: Was removed in January 2024 due to low usage. At the end of 2022, Tumblr announced a livestreaming service called Tumblr Live. Tumblr Live was an adapted version of The Meet Group 's product Livebox. In 2024, Tumblr announced that they would be discontinuing Tumblr Live as of January 24, with options for users to migrate to MeetMe . A feature that allowed users to tip small amounts of money to other users, introduced in February 2022,
8648-445: Was reported that Verizon was considering selling the site due to its continued struggles since the purchase (as it had done with another Yahoo property, Flickr , via its sale to SmugMug ). Following this news, Pornhub 's vice president publicly expressed interest in purchasing Tumblr, with a promise to reinstate the previous adult content policies. On August 12, 2019, Verizon Media announced that it would sell Tumblr to Automattic ,
8742-539: Was restored several days later. The chairmen of Verizon and Google agreed that network neutrality should be defined and limited in August 2010. In October 2010, Verizon Wireless paid $ 77.8 million in refunds and FCC penalties for overcharging 15 million customers for data services. The company stated the overcharges were accidental and only amounted to a few dollars per customer. Verizon introduced its 4G LTE network in 38 markets, as well as airports in seven additional cities in December 2010. The company planned on
8836-406: Was shut down. In March 2018, Tumblr began to syndicate original video content from Verizon-owned video network go90 , as part of an ongoing integration of Oath properties, and reported plans to wind down go90 in favor of using Oath properties to distribute its content instead. This made the respective content available internationally, since go90 is a U.S.-only service. Go90 shut down at the end of
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