Look out: Yahoo! is making some major moves. The New York Times has confirmed that the mail and search website, headed by former Google employee Marissa Mayer, will acquire micro-blogging website Tumblr for an eye-popping $1.1 billion.

Mayer announced the news through her own Tumblr along with an accompanying GIF , and made assurances that the ultra-popular platform won't change in any discernable way."The product roadmap, their team, their wit and irreverence will all remain the same as will their mission to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve," Mayer writes. "Yahoo! will help Tumblr get even better, faster."Rumors have been swirling around the acquisition for the last few days, but seemed inevitable once Yahoo!'s board approved the acquisition early Sunday morning. In the acquisition, Yahoo! will gain Tumblr's loyal fanbase of roughly 108 million blogs, which have reinvigorated the GIF and developed many sites devoted solely to cats.This, of course, isn't the first high-profile snatch of an indie social media platform. Facebook's billion-dollar acquisition of Instagram also caused the same uproar — and fan outrage — but very little has actually changed in either company's business profile. Undoubtedly, Yahoo! will take more immediate action with Tumblr to integrate its infectious culture back into the life of the website, which, for all intents and purposes, remains on life support. Mayer appears eager to get work done."The combination of Tumblr+Yahoo! could grow Yahoo!’s audience by 50% to more than a billion monthly visitors, and could grow traffic by approximately 20%," she writes.What do you think of the Tumblr acquisition? Let us know in the comments.

Lauren Hockenson is a tech reporter and 8-bit enthusiast who dreams of being a wizard. She can be found on MyIGN at lhockenson or on Twitter at @lhockenson