Yahoo! Gains on Tumblr Acquisition Report

NEW YORK ( TheStreet ) -- Yahoo! ( YHOO _ ) was gaining Friday morning following a report that the Internet search portal was in talks to buy Tumblr, the privately held blog network, in a deal that could reach a value of $1 billion.

Yahoo! was rising 0.3% to $26.65 extending its gain in 2013 to 34% compared to 15% for the Nasdaq Composite index .

Discussions between Yahoo! and Tumblr, a social media site that allows users to share posts, videos, photos and other content, was first reported by AllThingsD , a Dow Jones Web site. Talks have "gotten stronger more recently" though a deal is far from secure, the Web site said.

CEO Marissa Mayer, who took over the Internet portal in July 2012, has made clear her intention to make Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company's offerings more attractive to young people. A former executive at Google Inc., Mayer has been focused on Yahoo! acquiring or developing online services that can generate user traffic and advertising, said Jeff Jarvis, who teaches entrepreneurial journalism at the City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism.

"Tumblr is an extremely easy and elegant way of sharing content," Jarvis said in a phone interview. "It would also play into Mayer's apparent emphasis on building services at Yahoo! that people really want. There's a bit of a goldmine in services like Tumblr that help companies like Yahoo! understand who's making the good stuff and who's creating the good stuff."

Yahoo! shares have gained 71% since Mayer took over in July compared to a 20% advance for the Nasdaq.

Yahoo! and Tumblr officials couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

-- Written by Leon Lazaroff in New York.