Yahoo has agreed to pay $1.1 billion in cash for the company, one of the people said. Tumblr would continue to operate largely as an independent business, the people said.



It wasn't immediately clear whether Tumblr's board had also approved the deal. Spokesmen for Yahoo and Tumblr didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.



Yahoo's board approved the deal in a meeting by telephone on Friday, one of the people said. A deal could be announced as soon as Monday, the person said.



Tumblr, founded in 2007, fast built a following by making it easy for people to post blogs and photos, follow other people on Tumblr and receive updates via a feed. The website's simple design has lowered the bar for online publishing and effectively merged blogging with social media.