The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Arianna Huffington Fires Tech Blogger AOL Paid $30 Million to Buy Out

Posted on | September 2, 2011 | 33 Comments

At least that’s what it looks like, but first the background: Remember, AOL in February paid upwards of $300 million to acquire HuffPo in a deal that reportedly gave Arianna “control of all of AOL’s editorial content.” That big effing deal happened less than six months after AOL paid a reported $30 million to buy TechCrunch, the super-popular technology/business blog started in 2005 by Michael Arrington.

So the news comes today that Arianna gave Arrington the boot:

TechCrunch founder and editor Michael Arrington no longer works for TechCrunch, says Arianna Huffington, the president and editor-in-chief of AOLHuffington Post Media Group.
This contradicts some initial reports of Mr. Arrington’s new role, which said that Mr. Arrington would continue to report to Ms. Huffington, would retain the official title of “founding editor,” and would still be employed as a writer for TechCrunch.

This allegedly has something to do with Arrington starting a technology investment fund, a move decried as a violation of journalism ethics.

Now you understand why I’ve resisted all those lucrative offers* to sell TheOtherMcCain.com to international media conglomerates. You can’t get fired if you don’t have a boss. And I’d go back to driving a forklift before I’d work for a crazy bitch who talks like Zsa Zsa Gabor.

* This involves a definition of “lucrative offers” not quite as high as $300 million, and a definition of “international media conglomerates” that includes anyone stupid enough to offer money to buy a blog. A Venn diagram showing Set A as “people with lots of money” and Set B as “people who want to buy a blog” would show an extraordinarily tiny overlap in Set AB, none of whom have shown any interest in TheOtherMcCain.com — yet.

PREVIOUSLY:


Bookmark and Share
Category: Huffington Post

Comments

  • http://twitter.com/xRedRoverx Kristi

    But I get ALLERGIC smelling hay!  *sneezes*

  • Quartermaster

    I have no idea why AOL was dumb enough to buy Ariganta Puffington’s media “empire” from her. It wasn’t making money and she was looking around for more money to keep it online as it was. You have to wonder what they were thinking with, if anything at all.

  • http://twitter.com/_scarymatt_ Matt Lewis

    Who could have predicted that it would be Arianna standing up for journalistic integrity?

    AOL — which invested $10 million in the fund — prohibits employees from investing in companies they cover, but has made an exception for Arrington since purchasing his blog last year.

    Also fascinating that AOL had made an exception to the policy and invested in the fund.

  • Charles W

    I get AOL on my Netscape Navigator.

  • http://leatherpenguin.com/wordpress/ TC_LeatherPenguin

    I’m telling ya, the more I look at AOL/Zsa Zsa, the more I see the online version of Air America. The implosion is coming; AOL should have been dead years ago, but like Air Idiot, fools keep giving them financial infusions, but sooner or later the spigot is gonna get turned off.

  • Anonymous

    Does anybody even use their dialup service any more?

  • Charles W

    I don’t know, but if you want to try it I can send you a free cd that the sent me.

  • Anonymous

    no, this is the replay of the biggest merger bust of all time, AOL buying Time-Warner, only for AOL itself to be spun-off.  Good times.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6OOPHMPLPN4PBGSMYIAETYM72Y Doug

    She’s got arnold the pig slated for that spot.

  • http://faustasblog.com Fausta

    If life was fair, Arianna would still be working at the Acropolis IHOP

  • http://www.leftbankofthecharles.com Charles

    My prediction: Arrington will make a billion from technology investments, while Huffington loses a billion at AOL.

  • Anonymous

    I knew AOL had jumped the shark when they started giving free start-up disks away in cereal boxes.

  • http://leatherpenguin.com/wordpress/ TC_LeatherPenguin

    Surprisingly, yes; only baby Jeebus knows why. Also, some people have been using their “@aol.com” addy for so long they’re too lazy to switch.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    They make good coasters – kinda cool looking upside down.

  • http://leatherpenguin.com/wordpress/ TC_LeatherPenguin

    Arrington can be an incredible jerk sometimes, but I’m fairly certain when AOL bought TechCrunch, he didn’t get paid in AOL shares.

    Zsa Zsa? I figure her payout was mostly AOL paper, and the “editorial dominatrix” title was used to make her feel like she had become bigger than Tina Brown.

  • Anonymous

    *waves*
    Yeah, I’d be one of those people. But I get my AOLmail through Thunderbird. Can’t remember the last time I actually logged into AOL.com.

  • Anonymous

    I like to microwave mine occasionally. You get a sort of static discharge off the data side, and it doesn’t hurt the  microwave.

  • Anonymous

    That’s unfair to the concept of “Thinking”.

  • Anonymous

    Bored?

  • JeffS

    Well, it’s better than microwaving cats.

  • http://leatherpenguin.com/wordpress/ TC_LeatherPenguin

    Booze

  • http://leatherpenguin.com/wordpress/ TC_LeatherPenguin

    I have an “@gmail.com” account waiting RIGHT HERE, Wombat.

  • Dell Hill

    One on each side of a toilet paper roll really helps keep the roll flow smoothly, too!

  • Anonymous

    If I want deep-fried cat I just call Peking Moon!

  • http://twitter.com/Threedonia Threedonia

    Isn’t Smitty’s Rule 5 Investment Fund a violation of journalistic ethics?

  • Anonymous

    The one does lead to the other.

  • Anonymous

    There can be nothing unethical about Rule 5.

  • andycanuck

    Cool. I’ll have to search for that company name using Dogpile. 

  • Pingback: dustbury.com » No sale

  • Pingback: Daily scoreboard « Don Surber

  • Quartermaster

    You, sir, are quite correct. I await transportation to the re-education camp so that my thinking will be more properly molded to correct patterns. :-)

  • Quartermaster

    The irony of that was pretty rich.

  • J.M. Heinrichs

    Keep in mind the success of the “CrunchPad” …

    Cheers

Performance Optimization WordPress Plugins by W3 EDGE