Tumblr is undergoing a major technical change following the announcement that the backend will soon be migrated to WordPress.
In an announcement from parent company Automattic, it was confirmed that the popular blogging site will continue to operate under the Tumblr name and will not be converted to WordPress, noting that only the backend will be changed.
“We’re not talking about changing Tumblr,” it says. “We’re not turning Tumblr into WordPress. That would defeat the purpose. We acquired Tumblr to capitalize on its differences and strengths, not to dilute it.”
Tumblr to be migrated to WordPress
Since Automattic acquired Tumblr for $3 million in 2019, the platform has seen several upgrades and revenue increases, so the next logical step for Tumblr is to move to the WordPress platform to simplify the company’s portfolio.
The migration is expected to bring several benefits, including the ability to share work between WordPress and Tumblr. Tumblr will also benefit from ongoing open source developments at WordPress.org, to which WordPress.com owner Automattic is a major contributor.
However, the migration is likely to be a mammoth task, as Tumblr currently hosts an estimated half a billion blogs. Automattic called the change “one of the largest technical migrations in internet history.”
The timeline for the transition has not been announced, nor has Automattic provided a detailed roadmap. Rather, the announcement serves as the first disclosure of future plans to move Tumblr’s backend to WordPress.
With Tumblr having suffered millions in annual losses prior to its acquisition of Automattic, it is hoped that the migration will serve as an important cost-saving measure that will have a positive impact on future profit margins.
