Jeff D'Onofrio, who had been Tumblr’s CEO since 2018, has officially joined digital media content and advertising management service CafeMedia as its first CFO. He first announced his departure in January on his Tumblr page.
D'Onofrio, who now reports to CEO Michael Sanchez, will lead CafeMedia’s finance functions. He will also take responsibility for data and analytics, human resources and corporate development.
D'Onofrio brings decades of veteran tech executive experience and joins the 23-year-old company after eight years at internet blogging site Tumblr. While at the Automattic-owned company, he served as CFO, COO, President and most recently CEO. Before Tumblr, he held the top finance role at Zagat and helped negotiate its sale to Google. He also served as the CFO of Major League Baseball Advanced Media and the Skip Barber Racing School.
“Jeff is a strategic leader who brings deep expertise in operations, strategy, and finance from his time at some of the world's most exciting brands and platforms," Sanchez stated in the company’s press release. "I look forward to working closely with Jeff as the company continues to grow rapidly and we double down on our efforts to create even more value for the incredible independent creators we serve."
While at Tumblr, D’Onofrio oversaw the July 2021 launch of Post+, the company’s monetization tool for creators. Post+ allows creators to publish subscriber-only content, with Tumblr taking 5% of the profits. He also led the company’s second monetization effort earlier this year, allowing creators to receive one-time payments from users—similar to a tip jar.
"It's not every day you find a mission-driven organization that cares deeply about ensuring the success of creators and their ability to earn a living from their work," said Jeff D'Onofrio, Chief Financial Officer, CafeMedia. "I'm excited to help move the company forward and enable independent creators to earn a substantial living from their work."
D'Onofrio's tenure at Tumblr signaled a new level of corporate maturity for the blogging platform, which has been home to countless social and political movements. The company, which came of age over a decade ago, was bought by Yahoo for $1.1 billion in 2013. The internet company subsequently failed to do anything of note with its acquisition and flipped it to Automattic in 2019 for a paltry $3 million.
D’Onofrio isn’t the only ex-Goole leader the company has scooped up this year. In January 2022, CafeMedia hired Emily Burt, the former leader of YouTube's Creator and Artist Development team, as its first-ever Chief Customer Officer.
