Yahoo Hints That $1 Billion Tumblr Acquisition Was Mostly Wasted Money

March 1, 2016, 12:35 AM UTC
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LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 07: Yahoo! President and CEO Marissa Mayer delivers a keynote address at the 2014 International CES at The Las Vegas Hotel & Casino on January 7, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 10 and is expected to feature 3,200 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 150,000 attendees. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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(Reuters) – Yahoo said it may have to write down the goodwill value of Tumblr, more than two years after the web pioneer spent $1.1 billion to buy the microblogging site.

Yahoo said earlier in the month it took a $230 million impairment charge related to Tumblr and was considering strategic alternatives for its core internet business.

“It is reasonably possible that changes in judgments … could cause the company to consider some portion or all of the remaining goodwill of the Tumblr reporting unit to become impaired,” Yahoo said in a regulatory filing on Monday.

The deal for Tumblr was then seen as a bold bet by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to revitalize the company by co-opting a Web property with strong visitor traffic but little revenue.

Yahoo said on Friday it would take pretax charges of $64 million to $78 million, mostly in the first quarter of 2016, due to job cuts and other restructuring moves.

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Of the total, $40 million to $48 million would be for severance pay and related cash expenditures, the company said in a filing.

Yahoo has said it would reduce workforce by 15% by the end of 2016 and close offices in Dubai, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Madrid and Milan.

The company’s shares (YHOO) closed up 1.3% at $31.79 on Monday and were largely unchanged in extended trading.

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