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Check, Please: Huffington Post Sold to AOL for $315m
Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington sells her site to AOL for $315m in deal branded '1+1 = 11'
The Huffington Post, the ground-breaking online news and opinion site founded by Arianna Huffington on a shoestring budget, is to be bought for $315m by AOL in a move sure to stun new media sceptics and believers alike.
Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington is to sell the website to AOL for $315m and newly created role as AOL's editor in chief. (Image: Business Insider) Huffington and Tim Armstrong, the chairman and chief executive of AOL, have dubbed the takeover an equation of "1+1 equals 11", but others with longer memories of AOL's previous struggles - including its founder, Steve Case - were less enthusiastic when the news first broke late on Sunday in the US.
With the sale of the website that only began life in 2005 for $300m in cash and $15m in shares, the creation of a new media giant will send shockwaves through established news groups still struggling to understand the uncharted territory of online news.
In a statement released on Sunday night, AOL claimed that the new operation will have a combined base of 117m unique visitors a month in the US and 270m around the world.
The sale to AOL marks a personal triumph for Huffington, the colourful and controversial co-founder of the site that bore her name, who under the terms of the deal is given a new role as president and editor in chief of a unit to be named Huffington Post Media Group, and includes management of AOL's sprawling news operations and other media enterprises such as TechCrunch and MapQuest.
"This is the most exciting thing I have ever done," Huffington said after the deal was first announced.
"Together, our companies will embrace the digital future and become a digital destination that delivers unmatched experiences for both consumers and advertisers," said Armstrong.
It also represents a huge gamble by AOL, once a commanding presence as the US's dominant internet service provider in the initial dotcom boom of the 1990s, and the subject of a disastrous merger with Time-Warner in 2000 that was eventually unwound in 2009.
The New York Times reported on the sale:
The deal has the potential to create an enterprise that could reach more than 100m visitors in the United States each month. For the Huffington Post, which began as a liberal blog with a small staff but now draws some 25m visitors every month, the sale represents an opportunity to reach new audiences. For AOL, which has been looking for ways to bring in new revenue as its dial-up Internet access business declines, the millions of Huffington Post readers represent millions in potential advertising dollars.
Huffington and Armstrong went public with the deal at the Super Bowl in Dallas, in a video interview with the Wall Street Journal's technology journalist Kara Swisher.
In the interview Huffington described how the deal came together so rapidly: "Tim came out to LA in January, and we had lunch, and that's when we came up with the 1+1=11 concept."
"Ariana and her team fit a very specific need for us," Armstrong said.
The Huffington Post is privately owned by its two co-founders, Huffington and Kenneth Lerer, as well as investors. AOL's statement said the directors of each company and shareholders of the Huffington Post have already approved the transaction, which is expected to be completed by the middle of the year.
Originally a politics blog aimed at Democrats, the Huffington Post branched out into celebrity coverage and turned itself into one of the biggest pieces of real estate in online news media in the US, rapidly overtaking more established media organisations such as the Washington Post by deftly utilising the internet to exploit untapped markets.
Huffington has said that her site made a profit in 2010 for the first time. The New York Times reported that Huffington Post executives estimate that the site will generate $60m in revenue this year, compared with $31m in 2010.
Memories of the previous AOL-Time-Warner collaboration - hailed in 2000 as "the merger of the century" - proved too strong for some. AOL's co-founder Case, who negotiated the merger with Time-Warner in 2000, tweeted in the early hours of Monday morning: "AOL to Buy Huffington Post; Tim Armstrong says "1 + 1 will equal 11" Really? That wasn't my experience."
175 Comments so far
Show AllThanks for the memories Arianna ... Now you're nothing more than just another MSM propaganda outlet.
What memories? Blah! I have always avoided The Huffington Post and I was right.
My feelings EXACTLY.
Same here! I have requested HF to remove my account ASAP! I don't trust AOL at all.
I am glad someone gave the tip for commondreams.org just last week. Do you all sense an aggressive takeover of the more progressive media by the right wing? Am I the last one to have figure this out? :)
YES! You are very late in the game. I smell it way back, when that bitch running for that CA governor’s mansion after Gray Davis recalled! I will give you another tip, if you are still in the MoveOn’s band wagon, you better jump off immediately.
I have but thanks for the tip. I've been in a few band wagons always hopeful for being a part of the needed critical mass to enable a return (?) to sanity. I feel like a Don Juan awaken!
Holly cow! "been in a few band wagons always hopeful for being a part of the needed critical mass" ?
You must be joking and are you in the Obama's wagons too? Brother, you are beyond any hope of saving! :-)
"Progressive"?? Fluffington??
There are only a very few progressive, anti-war, or socialist sites left on the principled left or right.
The "Mighty Wurlitzer" (which BTW was invented by Frank Wisner's father at the CIA) is getting louder and drowning out all thoughtful and 'Two-way' discourse and debate by the people, the citizens, the "Multitude" (Hardt & Negri).
But don't despair, for "The Coming Insurrection" (Negri et al) is coming, and it is "Against Empire" (Parenti), and it will tear-down this "Empire of Illusion" (Hedges), and it will overcome this "Inverted Totalitarianism" (Wolin), and it will reestablish the only true 'American Dream' of the First American Revolution of "Democracy over Empire".
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
"Democracy over Empire" party headquarters
A few seconds ago I removed my acccount from the Huffpo, which has been dormant since mid-2009 because I could not stomach the tabloid crap anymore...the Huffington Post in my opinion just couldn't decide what it wanted to be, progressive news outlet or cheap tabloid crap, this merger does not shock nor surprise me at all. Par for the course.
You should read the comments from ALO customers....canceling their accounts right and left. They want no association with this left wing /marxist/ commie/ anarchist news site. Good grief...I wonder what they'd think of CD ?
Good question, wanked. They must be livid! We'll no doubt see an increase in trolls visiting here.
My guess is Common Dreams is the largest independent leftist site in this country, and I appreciate its news and commentary.
No corporate advertisers here suits me just fine. No corporate suits pulling the strings on the message, as at Huffpo and other sites.
Good to see CD Facebook at over 73,000, and I see the seasonal fundraising appeal is going well.
Bill in Dubuque
Fluffington Post. No loss because there was never anything there to lose.
well I am just coming over from the huffpo hope there is room for me I love what I see so far and no ads!
i never could get why folks went there - now for sure they can kiss my ass
You have to always be wary when someone was once a Repukican. That's a character flaw in my book, and I never completely trust that person's judgement.
To the deluded users of the
"the professional left"...
congratulations for joining
the Hindenburg.com; 'everything
that goes up, must come down,
sometimes quickly with alot of
heat and light.
The larger the 'progressive' media become, the more necessary becomes grassroots literacy to balance dynamics of scale.
When something is released at that scale events change at the speed of light literally - for good or bad, and figuratively in terms whether real enlightenment or not.
This points up the value of the model of the Egyptian demonstrators and their hunkering down without any underestimation of the deviousness, greed, and sheer momentum that abusive/exclusive structures protect their extractive exploitative pressures and discourse.
Shadow powers are revealed only by non-violent resistance that interrupts the momentum and drops s(l)ightly the veil of, for instance, the undercover police apparatus. The discourse, lexicon, terminologies, issue prioritization - true paradigm shifts from oppressive patterns.
Can the media really address the schism established by the SCALE of the log jam in the eye of corporate media? Information is not fully inanimate, it lives in a dimension of life that needs to be demystified.
I just changed my home page from Huffington to CommonDreams. It is time to move on. Huffington will change. I've seen it too many times to expect otherwise.
the end of huffpo.
but $315 mil is more than worthy investment for the AIPAC / wall street crowd to render the major (fake) liberal site politically dead.
ariana is the ultimate opportunist:
first, she marries a conservative billionaire old fart,
becomes a female face for conservatism using his money and connection as well as her foreign accent and oxford connection,
divorces the old fart and swindle a good chunk of his ill-gotten fortune,
turns acceptably left cleverly ahead of the historical curve (prolly the real conservatives disliked her as a female slick willie and shut her out),
starts to peddle her fake left ware,
builds her own corporate-for-sale-to-the-highest-bidder on the backs of unsuspecting liberals and progressives (like oh-bummer used the liberals for his bid),
uses huffpo's clout to enter the MSM circuit as a major political player, and
will demand a big piece of the capitalist pie at the end of the day.
no loss for the real left. it's a good thing that a fake is exposed.
Clones of Arianna Huffington can be seen on every major street corner of ever major city in the U.S., hawking their natural "assets" for a few dollars to passing motorists.
Well done, Arianna. You are the embodiment of the classic American entrepreneur.
Sex workers have more integrity.
I agree, Lord Buckley. Honest prostitutes provide a valuable service to society more worthwhile than the fetid crapola that will appear on Arianna's AOL-Huffington Post.
"It's a good thing that a fake is exposed."
Yes, and what portion of the "progressives" (including Obamabots) who log on to Fluffington will still think it's a "progressive" website?
They are proto-corporate as are many "progressive" sites, if the owner privately wishes to sell out and buy a villa in Europe just like Airyanna. The socialist blogosphere exists, mostly in Europe, but if we work at it we can become mainstream. A common dream, I wish to share.
"the creation of a new media giant will send shockwaves through established news groups still struggling to understand the uncharted territory of online news."
Exactly when did Huffpo become an online news site. If you take away the part of Huffpo that isn't a mindlessly vomiting propaganda for Obama, there's nothing left.
80% of their writing and commenting is done by the zionists and their hired guns.
Exactly right. The level of censorship there is breath taking. When former Ambassador Wilson gave Bush the business for what was left out of the book, I had to repeatedly scream at the censors that I was quoting Wilson on what the zionists did to further the Iraq invasion. I finally got a very toned down version through. Even that was quickly bumped down because of their comments format. Their comments format are so screwed up(deliberately, I believe) that the new comments keep bumping earlier ones down and they limit them to pages and pages so you can't see all the comments at once. I think that is a PR trick to keep the voice of the article louder than the comments.
Huffpo is just another Hollywood; a lot of flash, trash, beaver and pro war propaganda.
Caleb,
Bravo.
Huff Post does have a lot of good articles and has been independent enough to criticize the Democrats in many cases (although the degree may be open for legitimate debate). My concern is that the benefit of Huff Post will be diluted with AOL making a media circus out of the site and although Arianna is staying in charge of the Huff Post portion, how long will that last? Will this be another CNN type debacle that occurred after Ted Turner left?
well duh! do you think AOL (AIPAC propaganda crowd) bought it because they thought they could keep the "liberal" facade going for huffpo? their wall street massers gave 300 mil and told AOL mouthpieces to BUY huffpo as the best way to KILL it as a "liberal" site with any credibility.
but the key point is, huffpo has been a shill, build on the backs of real progressives and ambivolant liberals.
it's good for the real left that things are clearer now than before.
"Most exciting thing she's ever done"...
yeah when you were handpicked as a supposed far, left mouth piece, knowingly what's to come- $315 mil-
most average sell outs would be excited too.
Now isn't comforting to know that the huge database, with all it contributors and readers, are in the hands of AOL?
she's the ultimate political entrepreneur. she's moved on to her next swindle.
"political entrepreneur"? Blah! (No offend please, it's for Ariana) :-)
I wonder what happened to her book? I tried to go see her talk in cambridge but she was all filled up - 315 million I bet she forgets all about promoting that book and caring if she ever really did
Here is the caption for the picture that goes with this article.
"Dahling, You vallet, must ve dhis theek, bevore I eeven luke at you. You vittle libvals keep buying my booooks and I makes eeven mooore mooney. Dhis libval bull sheet makes me berry rich, so mahbe I too con now run for President. I vas bon in Havaii too you know! I con just viture da loook on Hillary's vase eef I do vin! LOL or dhould I say AOL, Dahling!"
Haaaaaaa!
I expect this has been in the works for months, if not longer. It is probably tied with the state of editorial decline that been has apparent at the site for the last several months, with more yellow journalism and less substance as well as what I perceived to have been an editorial lurch toward the right. Case in point - blocking a piece by Cenk Uygur while at about the same time highlighting one by Al Dershowitz. I won't be spending much time over there.
I also have not seen the latest post from Sirota that showed up on this site yesterday "With Democracy or Against It, There's No In-Between." His blogs have always appeared this. This one did not. Sometimes it seems confusing as to what they block and what they don't, but I imagine there's a few people over there we might be seeing less and less of.
I have to confess, I didn't start reading Huffington Post until 2008, but by early 2010 the site really started to grate on my nerves. People just bash each other there -- I call it the ultimate Dem-Repub slugfest site and I really believes that's the whole purpose for it's being -- to keep the two-party system front and center. It is the worse of the worst.
Of course, I can't remember when the Green Party was given a lot of space either, or any other potential third party. I only read about them in the comments or thanks to groups that are on Facebook.
Democracy Now, Real Times News, some Alternet, Counterpunch, Truthdig, Empire Burlesque -- Chris Floyd -- yes, these seem to be the best places check out on a regular basis. And Black Agenda Report and Firedoglake has good commentary.
And from an NPR report it seems Barack is going to get cozier with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- supposedly they have been PO'd at him for things like Obamacare, although I cannot for the life of me figure out why they're upset with him -- smoke and mirrors, the dog-and-pony show, etc., that's all it is.
The HP was a celebrity mag gone Internet/political. It is to keep us in the high-school-frame-of-mind, so we don't mind when McDonald's begins working out of the school cafeteria. We'll just continue to wonder why our children are overweight and/or crazy.
Samalabear
Your point about true progressive sites that you mention are certainly well taken. But it should be pointed out that sometimes these invaluable blogs end up paying a price for speaking truth to power. Chris Floyd over at Empire Burlesque reports that his web site has been shut down 19 times in the past 14 weeks. He thinks that these are not simply random attacks but are being carried out by those who feel threatened by what he has written. Those fascists are all for freedom of speech just as long as it is their ability to speak out that is not impaired. The last thing that they desire is for people to read about the crimes and falsehoods that have been perpetrated by those in power.
Truthdig? That site with Robinson and Dionne is,if anything,an even more blatant outlet of the Democratic Party than Huffpost.
"although I cannot for the life of me figure out why they're upset with him"
They (Chamber of Commerce) must maintain a show of being against Obamacare, otherwise it would lose what little credibility with the public it still has, and they would lose their cash cow.
What a tragedy!
in the same vein as Obama turning out to be oh-bummer and then o-bomber.
confused people are had once again.
no loss for the real clear left. rather, any clarification of where the battle line lies is a gain for the left.
What a tragedy? We are a nation of fools. We believe everyone in sheep skins, especially with red-white-blue wrapped around them! . We jump up and down, some even fainted when a "messiah" shows up, Blah!
For god sake, open your eyes and ears!
Sivasm,
I love your posts.
:)
No - what a farce! Worthy of Molliere!
"Those who consume and perpetuate the lies—including the liberal institutions of the press, the church, education, culture, labor and the Democratic Party—abet our disempowerment." Chris Hedges
Perfect description of Huffington Post.
For those of you making comments to Adrianna: She doesn't read Common Dreams; she is all tied up with her financial planner
Fluffpost was nothing but an M$M trojan horse and a Democrat Party apologist site all along. It is too bad that Arianna "forgot" her lessons of AOL-Timewarner and how it further ruined CNN. Whatever progressive site is next on the AOL buyout list, I have full faith that this site will be the very very last site on this planet to get bought out by AOL. Yes, the articles may often stink but losing great posters would be our biggest loss. STAND STRONG COMMON DREAMS and if AOL tries to seduce you with some kind of a business deal, hit them back with this, "GET YOUR DIRTY BUSINESS HANDS OFF OF US !".