David Karp facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Karp
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Karp in 2017
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| Born | July 6, 1986 New York City, New York, U.S.
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| Years active | 1995–present |
| Known for | Founder and CEO of Tumblr |
David Karp (born July 6, 1986) is an American entrepreneur. He is famous for creating the social media and blogging website Tumblr.
Karp started his career without finishing high school. He worked as an intern for an animation company called Frederator Studios. There, he built the company's first blog. He also helped create their first video network online.
Later, Karp worked for a website for parents called UrbanBaby. After it was sold, he started his own company, Davidville. He and an engineer named Marco Arment worked on projects for other companies. In 2007, they created a new kind of blogging website and called it Tumblr. It quickly became very popular. By 2017, Tumblr had over 375 million blogs.
In 2013, the company Yahoo! bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Karp stayed as the CEO (the head of the company). He later announced in November 2017 that he would be leaving Tumblr.
Contents
Early Life and Education
David Karp was born in New York City and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. His mother, Barbara Ackerman, was a science teacher, and his father, Michael D. Karp, composed music for movies and TV. He has a younger brother named Kevin.
Karp went to the Calhoun School until the eighth grade. He started learning HTML, the language used to make websites, when he was 11. He even designed websites for local businesses.
He attended The Bronx High School of Science for one year. Then, at age 15, he dropped out and began homeschooling. He hoped to impress colleges like MIT by working on his own projects. Karp never went back to high school or earned a diploma.
Career Journey
First Steps in Tech
In 2000, Karp started as an intern for animation producer Fred Seibert. An intern is a student who works to get experience. Karp's mother was friends with Seibert's wife. Karp was very interested in the work of the computer engineers at the company.
While being homeschooled, Karp also took Japanese classes. He worked with a math tutor to write software for card games like blackjack and poker.
An entrepreneur named John Maloney needed help with his website for parents, UrbanBaby. An employee at Frederator suggested Karp for the job. Karp finished the project in just four hours. Maloney was so impressed that he made Karp the head of product and gave him a small part of the company. In 2003, Karp moved to Tokyo by himself for five months while still working for UrbanBaby.
The Creation of Tumblr
Karp left UrbanBaby in 2006 after it was sold to another company. He used the money he made to start his own software company, Davidville. He hired an engineer named Marco Arment to help him.
Karp was interested in "microblogging," which is posting short updates, photos, and links. He waited for a big blogging company to create a microblogging platform, but no one did. So, in 2006, he and Arment decided to build one themselves.
Tumblr was launched in February 2007. It was a huge success. Within just two weeks, 75,000 people had signed up. Because Tumblr was growing so fast, Karp closed his consulting business to focus on it full-time.
Selling Tumblr and Moving On
On May 20, 2013, it was announced that Yahoo! would buy Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Karp remained the CEO of the company after the sale.
In November 2017, Karp announced he was leaving Tumblr at the end of the year. Besides Tumblr, Karp has also invested his own money in other technology companies.
Personal Life
In 2014, Karp joined the board of directors for a major national health organization. In 2017, he worked with this organization to encourage other tech companies to show their support.
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Karp supported Hillary Clinton. He also donated money to support Mark Kelly's campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2020.
See also
In Spanish: David Karp para niños
