Online company AOL Inc. is buying online news hub Huffington Post in a $315 million deal that represents a bold bet on the future of online news.
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.
The price that AOL is paying is “really just the hiring fee to get Arianna,” said technology analyst Rob Enderle. “This is one of those out-of-left-field moves that actually makes a lot of sense. This could put AOL back on the map.”
Armstrong, a former Google Inc. executive, has been trying to turn AOL into a go-to place for a wide variety of news since he was hired to turn around the company in April 2009 while it was still a part of Time Warner Inc. The makeover is designed to give Web surfers a reason to visit AOL’s websites more frequently to help boost online ad sales.
At the same time, Armstrong has laid off hundreds of employees in an effort to boost AOL’s financial performance and stock price. It has been a slog so far. AOL lost $782.5 million last year, largely because of accounting charges, and the company’s stock is now worth slightly less than after it was spun out of Time Warner 14 months ago.
The deal “will create a next-generation American media company with global reach that combines content, community, and social experiences for consumers,” Armstrong said in a statement announcing the deal.
Founded in 2005, Huffington Post is owned by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer and a group of other investors. The site attracts 25 million monthly visitors. AOL will pay $300 million of the purchase price in cash.
Putting Arianna Huffington into a position of power could eventually threaten Armstrong’s job security if AOL still struggles, Enderle said.
“This is a gutsy move on (Armstrong’s) part because Arianna could end up running AOL,” Enderle said.
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.
Armstrong has been an aggressive deal maker since his arrival, but this marks by far the biggest acquisition of his tenure. Various published reports quoting unidentified people have also said he has talked to private equity firms about the possibility of trying to buy Yahoo Inc., another struggling Internet pioneer that remains a household name. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, though, has shown little interest in working with AOL.
AOL had just a 5.3 percent share of the U.S. display advertising revenue in 2010, down from 6.8 percent in 2009, according to eMarketer. Facebook, meanwhile, accounted for 13.6 percent of display revenue last year, up from 7.3 percent in 2009.
Huffington Post grew quickly from startup to online colossus and ranks as one of the top 10 current events and global news sites. Over time, it launched city-specific pages and developed a roster of sections such as food and books. The work of its 70-person paid staff is augmented by content from news outlets and 6,000 bloggers who write for free.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press
2 thoughts on “AOL buying Huffington Post for $315 million”
One must ask. What does this say about both AOL and HuffPost?
About AOL: They’re about to put Arianna Huffington in charge of all of the AOL content; news, editorial, everything. Will that make AOL a source of reasonably unbiased news? Most certainly not. Was AOL ever such? Given this decision by their board the question is raised, if dated.
About HuffPost? It had the air of a leftist alternative site. Appears it was nothing more than another dot-com in search of making money. How will the credibility of its reporting be affected by corporate dictate? That should be obvious.
I’m no fan of HuffPost. Way to liberal for my sentiments. But I have read it regularly to get a grip on how that group is thinking. I will no longer be able to read it without wondering what this corporate-leftist Frankenstein is trying to pawn off.
—W—
I think it actually worth more than 315 million, Im quite surprised she sold for that, given that worthless startups are commonly funded for more.
I like what I see from AOL trying to shepard worthwhile content, its about time somebody invested in the web that is, versus the web that will never be.
If AOL doesnt destroy these properties its acquiring it will be a great lesson to Yahoo: stop destroying the web, and start growing with it.
The native americans taught european settlers how to farm WITH the land and not against it. This is your lesson Yahoo.
Comments are closed.