AOL Buys HuffPo for $315m, Keeps Arianna In Charge
A pair of updates below the fold.
AOL News announced Monday that it has chugged the Kool Aid and put Arianna Huffington in charge of the new Huffington Post Media Group. AOL will pay $315 million for the site, making it the blogosphere's largest ever acquisition.
Decisions to name Huffington president and editor in chief and to brand the new company with the Huffington Post name suggest that AOL has fully embraced a leftist spin on the news.
The Associated Press reported Monday morning:
The acquisition announced early Monday puts a high-profile exclamation mark on a series of acquisitions and strategic moves engineered by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong in an effort to reshape a fallen Internet icon. AOL was once the king of dial-up online access known for its ubiquitous CD-ROMs and "You've got mail" greeting in its inboxes.
Perhaps just as important as picking up a news site that ranks as one of the top 10 current events and global news sites, AOL will be adding Huffington Post co-founder and media star Arianna Huffington to its management team as part of the deal.
After the acquisition closes later this year, Huffington will be put in charge of AOL's growing array of content, which includes popular technology sites Endgadget and TechCrunch, local news sites Patch.com and online mapping service Mapquest…
In a blog post about the deal, Arianna Huffington praised Armstrong's vision for AOL and said they were on the same page as they discussed their ambitions for online news. "We were practically finishing each other's sentences," Huffington wrote about their discussions. She wrote that the deal was signed at the Super Bowl in Dallas, which she and Armstrong attended.
If it wins expected regulatory approval without any hitches, the deal will likely close in late March or early April.
So will Arianna's views and those of her site spill over into AOL's content? It seems likely. Ed Morrissey shares some of the concerns mentioned above the break:
The editorial arrangement seems like a strange decision. AOL has been careful to give the impression of political balance in their news and opinion offerings on line. Putting a political activist like Arianna Huffington in charge of all AOL content will upend that balance, and might have a significant number of subscribers and readers heading for the door. The end result might be less a combination of the two readerships and more of a replacement of AOL’s community with that of the HuffPo.
Another strange decision, related to the first, is to rebrand AOL’s content with the Huffington label. Arianna has done a great job over the last few years in building her brand in the blogosphere, but AOL has one of the oldest and most widely known brands in computing. Perhaps renaming the content group with the Huffington label was an attempt to keep the partisan direction of HuffPo from damaging AOL’s brand, but if the content shifts under Arianna’s leadership, that won’t help at all.
Huffington is not known for her subtlety. It's hard to see how a news operation with her at the helm would be anything but stridently leftist.
*****UPDATE: As of roughly 10:20 AM, AOL shares are down 2.5 percent (h/t Romenesko).
*****UPDATE 2: Bill Jacobson at Legal Insurrection offers this bit of ironic insight:
It always amazed me that HuffPo bloggers (not the handful of well paid staffers, but the great unwashed) thought they were so special by being allowed to blog at HuffPo, when in fact they were being treated as unindentured servants. They were able leave, but they were working for free to help Arianna build a business.
Who knew that the website devoted to a living wage and moral imperatives actually manged to get liberal bloggers to work for free to make money for the boss-lady and her investment banking investors.
There's a sucker born every minute....
- Lachlan Markay's blog
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Comments
I'll give her credit
Submitted by Galvanic on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:15am.
Huffington has turned her little online source into a very profitable enterprise and made her rich(er).
But the sale to AOL lends it no more credibility than it has last week. Citing the Huffington Post is akin to citing The Nation.
Will AOL pay Huffie writers now?
Submitted by StarAZ on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:39pm.
Or was AOL delighted to find someone who paid writers less than they do on Seed or Patch?
It never ceases to amaze me
Submitted by rwesley2.0 on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:04am.
It never ceases to amaze me how some business big-wigs make terminal decisions like this. Its as if they intentionally want to fail.
The only thing I can think of is that they are looking at a long term "Obama will bail us out" strategy.
I think it more likely that
Submitted by ThatDude on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:14am.
I think it more likely that the next conservative president will indirectly bail them out. Shrill leftist outlets do much better when they are out of power and have more to whine about.
They had to keep Arianna in charge.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:06am.
George Soros is the only one who can can understand her when she speaks, and vice versa.
Zaz Zaz Puffington
Submitted by SnapTie on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:59pm.
http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2010/03/arianna-huffington-george-soross-whore.html Just what she is.
Thanks for the link, Snapper...
Submitted by Newsbubba on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 1:09pm.
...but I doubt that even Georgie would "hit" that!
It's an admission of failure.
Submitted by Ashrak on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:09am.
AOL has been about to go over the edge for a long time. With this move, it has finally passed the point of no return. I view this as a contraction, a centralization of power structure, by "forces" getting whipped at every turn.
The market for lefty America bashing is shrinking, and the progressives know it. Some wonder where Keith Olberman will reappear- I think we just found out.
Failing Business Model
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:52pm.
AOL isn't doing too hot:
AOL's business is struggling as it attempts to make its transition from its roots as a subscription-based service for connecting to the Internet to an ad- supported digital media company. The company faces declines in revenues and traffic to its sites. In the fourth quarter, AOL's ad revenue, the focus of the company's turnaround strategy, dropped 29%.Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704858404576129234044123852.html#ixzz1DICDFG3P
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
Dumped AOL
Submitted by SimJim on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 1:02pm.
I dumped AOL years ago specifically because they censored their "communitities" of any conserviative opinion. Leftist comments were never purged, but conservative opinion lasted a few hours if you were lucky. I applaud AOL for finally coming out of the closet. Balance my a**..
I am surprised to see so many people betting on
Submitted by Lipton on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:13am.
left of center news.
Any predictions on where conservative media will be 5 years from now?
...where conservative media will be 5 years from now?
Submitted by Dave. on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:39am.
If something doesn't change, and damned soon, probably milling about in a government re-education camp.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Tip Abercrombie's Health Director Quits Mysterious Circumstances
Submitted by im41 on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:33am.
Was he forced out by Abercrombie?
Best narcissism/liberalism
Submitted by johnsonl on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:34am.
Best narcissism/liberalism that money can buy!
Geez, they could have bought 315 million Newsweeks
Submitted by SickofLibs on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:37am.
.
Off Topic Question
Submitted by Ashrak on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:41am.
I write this here for lack of another place to do so.
I have noticed all the hammering of Christina for mangling the National anthem, which she no doubt did, for the politics played with some seating by a fire marshall and some halftime "entertainers" but I have not yet seen any articles about the wonderful display put on by FOX regarding the reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Ok, it's early in the day and maybe there are a bunch of articles around thanking this efforts and recognizing its import but I just haven't run across them yet. I was expecting a litany of articles about that particular pre game presentation.
At what other time in history has the Declaration of Independence been read to more people at one time? Seems like a newsworthy, if not record setting, event to me.....
And in the MSM - :crickets:
Interesting question?
Submitted by Lipton on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:06pm.
I didn't watch the game, but faintly remember hearing the Declaration it in the background (we had it on in the house). I have to admit, I didn't bother to turn my head and look because I just thought it was one of the many talked about car commercials from our taxpayer owned car companies (they had that one with George Washington driving the car). I didn't bother to look because I assumed that it was being used as a propaganda piece. Shame.
so says Obama*
Submitted by cajun2 on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:45am.
"at some point you have made enough money"...Barack H. Obama
And $315m for Huffpo does seem waaaay over priced.
Will she spread it around?
Submitted by octavioj on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:53am.
I doubt it cajun...That was directed at conservatives and capitalists, cajun.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 11:55am.
Liberals and commies NEVER get enough of YOUR money to suit them. Someone up the thread pointed out that Obama will probably start pushing federal (meaning our money) to them to support this piece of crap business.
Capital Gain vs Income
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 1:28pm.
In future discussions on tax policy, will Ariana point out her windfall of paying her taxes at a much lower capital gains rate then the income tax rate?
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
Obama: Corporate Profits "Have To Be Shared By American Workers"
Submitted by MaximusBraveheart on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 2:14pm.
Obama: Corporate Profits "Have To Be Shared By American Workers" Real Clear Politics VideoLink now on Drudge top left:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/02/07/obama_corporate_profit...
------------------------
How many nails does this large subterranian oak box need?
Ya think marxist socialist? Wonder why he hates America? He wants to "reform" it in his image. "Journalists," please wake up and start protecting America. And you wonder why Hugo Obama wants control of the internet?
-- Maximusbraveheart -- Is TRUTH knowable? Moral Relativism is the abandonment of Truth. Truth is knowable. Truth conforms to Reality. Reality is observable by evidence & witness in this day & from history. Relativism is Sesame Street play land.
How the Mighty have Fallen
Submitted by CobraMan on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:00pm.
It wasn't that long ago when AOL announced the "biggest merger in media history" and acquired Time Warner for the astronomical price of 182 BILLION dollars (That's Billion with a "B"). That acquisition failed, miserably. Now they're acquiring the Huffington Post for a mere 315 million? Wow, how the mighty have fallen! Steve Case, you should have stuck to making pizza!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
A-holes On Line and Huff & Puke deserve each other
Submitted by Dave. on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:04pm.
I remember way back when I cancelled my AOL Internet "service," I ended up having to close a credit card account to keep those jerks from charging me every month, as no amount of phone calls and/or emails worked.
And to get their hideous software off of my computer, I had to regurgitate the hard drive.
Twice.
It will be interesting to see who drags down who in the end.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Dave,
Submitted by Ashrak on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 3:13pm.
A friend of mine, who goes all the way back to AOL by the minute dial up, went through the same bank account drama you talk about regarding AOL charges. A great many people got rooked on that deal - but hey, "class action" got all that "justice".
On one hand, no one is
Submitted by PeskyDane on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:16pm.
On one hand, no one is beating down my door to manage things at AOL, so who am I to say that this is a stupid deal for them? One the other hand, the Titanic was built by professionals and experts...
Tax Cuts good....
Submitted by adamsmith on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 12:56pm.
I tried to post this at Huffington Post earlier, but it was scrubbed by the mods in hyper overdrive today, "I'll bet Arianna is glad Obamalinsky held onto the Bush Tax Cuts". Now, why on Earth would they scrub that? The "Community" is in a meltdown. First Olbergoebbels off MSNBC, now this!!!!!! Oh, the Humanity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Any word on when AOL will change it's name?
Submitted by Dotcoman on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 1:22pm.
They should change it to Anti-America On Line
I gotta agree with you fellas above and your opinions of AOL, Huffington and her rag.
here's to hoping she drives both into the ground and they both go the way of Air America sooner rather than later.
Just simply stop using it. And get your mothers and grandmothers off of it too.
In other news...
Submitted by retrocon on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 1:37pm.
AOL still exists???
She just cashed in...
Submitted by humanzee on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 1:53pm.
300 million bucks in cash.
I wonder if this is one of the final nails in the coffin for AOL. 315 million for Huffpo?
The loyal readers of Huffpo and her slave bloggers may not like her taking the site all corporate and stuff.
I smell HuffPo going more TMZ, more tabloid.
And the other shoe drops.
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 2:11pm.
... Thus answers my question I submitted in a later post.
Do you suppose that this will drive AOL further into the abyss?
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
A fool and his money are soon
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 3:50pm.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
AOL has $315 mil? CASH?
Submitted by jimbo297 on Mon, 02/07/2011 - 4:03pm.
That's a whooole lotta dial-up!
What an odd move on their part-like they're trying to drag lib-blogging into the dustbin of history along with their slow loading time.
Hey, at least that sniveling witch is actually earning her money now instead of just spending her dead husbands loot.