Around the Net

AOL Buys Huffington Post, Huffington Oversees AOL's News

  • Boomtown, Monday, February 7, 2011 11:44 AM
Marking its most aggressive content move yet, AOL is scooping up the Huffington Post for $315 million. "The flashy acquisition ... will become the linchpin of AOL CEO Tim Armstrong's aggressive, if risky, strategy to focus the long-troubled company as a content and advertising powerhouse," writes BoomTown's KaraSwisher. "For AOL, the deal gives them a popular branded site that is very good at generating lots page views and impressions very efficiently." As part of the deal, Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington will become president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group within AOL, where she will oversee all of AOL's news properties, including Engadget and TechCrunch, along with Moviefone and MapQuest.

However, "The new division ... will likely face scrutiny as it is implemented," writes PCMag. "AOL has retained many of the founders of news websites purchased over the years ... and left them largely in control of their domains. AOL will have to avoid alienating those news leaders as it builds the new division."



What's more, "By handing so much control over to Ms. Huffington and making her a public face of the company, AOL, which has been seen as apolitical, risks losing its nonpartisan image," suggests The New York Times.

Under the headline, "AOL+HuffPo! Why It is Not Really a Good Deal," GigOm writes: "Tim Armstrong, AOL's CEO has little or no choice but to make this and more bold moves. His company is racing against time." On the contrary, "Tim Armstrong and Aol are smart to acquire Huffington Post as a media property and Arianna Huffington as the head of content," insists BuzzMachine blogger Jeff Jarvis. "To execute on its content-and-advertising strategy, Aol needs brands with engagement ... Huffington Post is that."

The deal "comes directly on the heels ... of a Goldman Sachs assessment issued last week, with ... the headline 'still waiting for the promised turnaround,'" notes The Awl. "(It notes that AOL's ad revenue was down 27% and 29% from the previous year in quarters three and four.) You spoke a little soon, Goldman Sachs!"

Read the whole story at Boomtown »

3 comments about "AOL Buys Huffington Post, Huffington Oversees AOL's News".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. Jonathan Mirow from BroadbandVideo, Inc., February 7, 2011 at 1:02 p.m.

    Wow – now instead of just being an impotent, ineffective “content aggregator” trying to recapture their glory days as King of Dial Up – AOL can now become an online target of GOP abuse! All this for only $315 million. I used to work for Mapquest back in the early days – of all the people that I thought might ever run that site – Huffington never even made it to my short list…

  2. Kate Lafrance from Hartford Woman Online Magazine, February 7, 2011 at 1:16 p.m.

    Although they are described in the article as "apoliitical" my family members have often commented on what they perceive as a RIGHT leaning stance from AOL. The news items that come up on their home page tend to negatively reflect the Obama administration and the election before that. Many of the uninformed that we know seem to get all of their news from these pages when they sign in to play POGO so we are curious to see if there is any obvious change in their political outlook after a few months.

  3. Ross Bradley from Qeg Pty Ltd, February 7, 2011 at 10:38 p.m.

    I have no doubt at all, this will eventually prove to be a great move by AOL. Combined, it is said there's 117 million unique visitors per month in the U.S. & some 270 million from around the world.

    In looking 'under the bonnet', AOL's Advertising.com is now into "pure play audience buying", across the [entire] web and with the likes of Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, et al), AOL will soon get to operate within a new secondary (or, a remnant?), global marketplace.

    http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/36191-lookingconfident/136630-aol-s-300m-buyout-of-huff-po-invites-ssp-purchase-speculation-no#comments

    My own rough exercise in/of fully monetising International "uniques" and or, all-up page 'visits' at the UK's newspaper The Guardian show some $200,000,000 - resulting from those International users.

    http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/36191-lookingconfident/55949-publishers-should-create-toll-gate-for-premium-content

    Yes, it's coming, soon. In my opinion.

Next story loading loading..