Meet David Karp, man who dropped out of high school, launched Tumblr at 20, sold it to Yahoo for $1.1 billion, know about his career and journey

David Karp is the former CEO of Tumblr. He later sold the microblogging platform to Yahoo for $1.1 billion. Karp was born on July 6, 1986, and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. His mother, Barbara Ackerman, worked as a science teacher and his father, Michael D Karp, worked as a film and TV composer. Notably, his parents separated when he was just 17. He also has a younger brother named Kevin.

Karp went to the Calhoun School from pre-school through eighth grade. There, his mother taught science. In 1997, he started learning HTML and later went on to build websites for businesses.

Why did he leave school?

Karp attended the Bronx High School of Science but dropped out in 2001. According to reports, his mother wanted him to study at home. His mother also reportedly revealed that he used to spend long hours on his computer every night.


In a 2013 Forbes interview, Karp talked about his ambition to go to college. He hoped to get admission in MIT. Notably, he reportedly never returned to high school or earned his high school diploma.

How did his career begin?

In 2000, Karp began his journey as an intern for animation producer Fred Seibert, founder of Frederator Studios. Interestingly, Karp's mother had once taught Seibert's children at Calhoun School.

Karp also went for Japanese classes, and there he met a math tutor. With him, Karp went on to write software for winning at blackjack and poker.

Later, he became the head of product at UrbanBaby, which was a parenting forum. He moved alone to Tokyo for five months in 2003.

How did he build Tumblr?

In early 2007, Karp launched Tumblr in New York at the age of 20. Tumblr was a platform he built where users can post photos, text, GIFs, audio, video, and links with a very little effort. This platform quickly gained attraction. Young people and artists took to the platform quickly. According to Fortune, Tumblr hosted more than 136 million blogs by 2013.

How much did he make from the Yahoo deal?

Yahoo and Tumblr announced on May 20, 2013 that they had reached an agreement for Yahoo to acquire Tumblr for $1.1 billion.

How was Karp's life in 2013?

Karp became a well-known figure in New York tech circles in 2013. According to media reports, Karp regularly blogged about his night outs and personal life.

What is Karp doing now?

Details about David Karp's current personal life aren't publicly documented. He rarely gives interviews or makes a public appearance.

According to media reports, he endorsed Hillary Clinton in the lead-up to the 2016 US elections.

Meanwhile, Tumblr still has a loyal fanbase. The platform left a huge impact on the internet culture, and still many write about it in a positive sense.