After four years as President of Tumblr, John Maloney steps down

In a post appropriately shared on Tumblr, John Maloney has announced that he’s stepping down as President of the content-sharing site. Maloney has filled this role at Tumblr for the past four years, and says that the team is in very capable hands with CEO and founder David Karp. Here’s a excerpt from Maloney’s post:

I’ll start by saying it has been an absolute joy and privilege to be the President of Tumblr these past four years

To work alongside these special people, with our intense focus on product, positivity, fun and whimsy — from our small team came what is now a community of over 50 million

It’s been a seminal experience, and I’m proud of the work

I told the team and board this week that it’s time for me to transition away from running day-to-day operations. It’s the right time for me and a good time for Tumblr. We’re in great hands with David and the excellent leadership team we’ve built. The company is filled with amazing people

That said, I’m not going very far. The transition from running ops is effective immediately, but I’m sticking close w/ David, the team and company. There’s more work to do and I want to help see it thru

It sounds as if Maloney will maintain an advisory role with the company, or at least making himself available to the team he helped build over the years. In addition to this, it seems like Maloney is ready to mentor some more startups and founders, as a way of “paying it forward”.

Tumblr announced two weeks ago that it would start implementing advertising on the site, helping it build a steady stream of revenue.

The company seems to be on quite a winning streak lately, announcing that it had hit 20 billion posts, with over 50 million hosted blogs. To grow the readership of those 50 million blogs, Tumblr’s new Facebook Timeline integration will definitely do the trick.