• by Fern Siegel , August 6, 2015

The Huffington Post

Previously, he was global head of corporate development at Spotify, where he lead the music platform from a start-up into a serious player in the streaming world.

At the same time, he started and sold a legal tech company, Shake. Grusd was also in charge of strategy and business development at AOL from 2009 until October 2011. There, he was part of the decision-making process to acquire The Huffington Post.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Arianna Huffington said the site plans to expand into 17 markets by year's-end, making Grusd's digital background an asset. She called him a "master of business development and partnerships." Grusd will report to her.

He replaces Jimmy Maymann; AOL has assigned him to head the company's consumer brands.

Before AOL, Grusd worked at Google, where he negotiated partnerships for its advertising business as managing counsel.

In a memo to staff, Huffington wrote the timing of the CEO hire "couldn't be better" and the company "continues to expand around the world and innovate in every way.”

The news-aggregation site, in an effort to boost its HuffPost Live programming, plans to launch a 24-hour streaming network in the second half of 2015. It's expected to be part of Verizon Wireless’ forthcoming OTT subscription-video service. The digital network, HuffPost 24, will jazz up HuffPost Live daily six-hour block of live talk shows.

Verizon acquired AOL in June. That same month, Arianna Huffington signed a four-year contact to remain at I, the company she cofounded in 2005.