Yahoo’s board has approved a deal to purchase the popular blogging platform Tumblr for $US1.1 billion in cash following the move made by new chief executive Marissa Mayer to bring Yahoo back to younger internet users.

It’s good news for Yahoo who recently failed in a bid to take over the online video site Dailymotion after the French government, which owns a stake, intervened.

Tumblr CEO David Karp will reportedly assist Yahoo for four years and help push the brand founded in 2007 and headquartered in New York to new, lively online audiences.

With more than 108 million blogs, 50 billion postings in 12 languages and 175 employees, the website ranking site Alexa lists Tumblr as number 32 in terms of global popularity.