Sorry, Internet: Tumblr Founder David Karp Is Not A Billionaire

ReadWrite · May 22, 2013, 12:30 AM

On Monday, Yahoo announced it was buying Tumblr, the blog network, for $1.1 billion. And then the tweets started, with people declaring that Tumblr founder David Karp was now a billionaire.

The conflation of Tumblr's purchase price with Karp's net worth assumed that Karp got nearly all of the Yahoo payday. And that's simply not how it works for venture-backed startups. Investors like Union Square Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz will share in the take, with Karp getting an estimated $275 million.

(See also: Tumblr's Perverse Lesson: To Get Rich, Don't Make Money)

That's a lot of money, but it won't get him on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires.

You try explaining this to people on Twitter, though.

From high school drop out to billionaire: previously coy Karp cashes in on Tumblr smh.com.au/it-pro/busines...

— Sandra Sully (@Sandra_Sully) May 20, 2013

David Karp (26) now a billionaire after Yahoo! agrees to buy Tumblr news.com.au/technology/yah... Thx #FF @josepheach @sanddragger @conservotop

— Joey Myers Jr. (@JoeyMyersJr) May 20, 2013

Funny how people think that the founder of a venture backed company sold for $1.1b is somehow a billionaire

— David Galbraith (@daveg) May 20, 2013

David Karp--High school drop-out to billionaire stuff.co.nz/technology/dig... I too have no clue why anyone needs to go to school for 12yrs #Tumblr

— Tolstaja Zhirniavka (@tolstunka) May 20, 2013

Sadly, even some respectable publications like Australia's Sydney Morning Herald made the error:

From high school drop-out to tech billionaire: Meet David Karp. ow.ly/lbRIw #Tumblr

— smh.com.au (@smh) May 20, 2013

Other people asserted that Karp was a "high-school dropout." That's actually a debatable point. He left high school to continue his education through home schooling, and never received a formal diploma.

I hate how the media is referring to David Karp as a "high school dropout". Like, yeah he's a dropout but now he's a hot billionaire.

— Trey Amandus Bennett (@trey_amandus) May 20, 2013

Vespa lover, yes. Billionaire, no.

Who knew that newly billionaire @davidkarp likes to ride Vespas? nym.ag/163cMDH #VespaVita

— Vespa USA (@VespaUSA) May 20, 2013

And Business Insider's Henry Blodget tried to resolve the issue with punctuation:

New York tabloids discover @davidkarp, the city's newest ~billionaire tech god read.bi/11RmFms

— Henry Blodget (@hblodget) May 20, 2013

Related stories:

Photo by Web09

ReadWrite