On last night's Real Time, Arianna Huffington dropped by via satellite for an interview with Bill Maher. Unsurprisingly, the Huffington Post's buyout by AOL dominated the conversation. Well, that and some playful misogyny. Oh, and a heavy Greek accent, obviously.
In your crippled Thursday media column: Magic Johnson saves Vibe, some jokers think AOL's brand can be "tainted," another departure from the NY Daily News, schadenfreude at CBS News, and News Corp's kitchen furniture police are out in full force.
In your rearranged Wednesday media column: CBS laughably asks Katie Couric to stay, New Yorker fact checking goes above and beyond, AOL stock shakes off HuffPo's purchase price, Keith Olbermann is as calm and dignified as always, and Joshy Tyrangiel, profiled.
AOL bought the Huffington Post yesterday for $315 million. Matt Drudge says that Arianna Huffington's cut was $18 million. The Washington Post quotes an analyst saying Arianna made $100 million. Hmm. She's not poor, at least! Know specifics? Email me.
AOL just bought news site Huffington Post for $315 million—$300 million in cash. HuffPo founder Arianna Huffington will become editor of all AOL "content properties." That sound you just heard was the whole internet going "Whaaaaat?"
AOL boss Tim Armstrong wants a lot from his bloggers. He wants pageviews per story to more than quadruple. He wants total editorial output to rise 27 percent. And he wants this all by April. Uh, sure!
Surprise, surprise: Michael Arrington is in another internal fight at AOL. But this time the TechCrunch founder isn't slamming a sibling blog; he's dissing his own, and what some mystery middle manager or sales guy has done to it.
In your should-be-a-holiday Monday media column: WPIX goes minimalist, Ken Auletta takes on AOL, the Comcast-NBCU merger is almost ready to close, and Piers Morgan will have his first and most-watched episode on CNN tonight.
When AOL bought TechCrunch last September, the first question on everyone's lips was, "How long could Mike Arrington possibly last as an AOL employee?"
It's possible Rupert Murdoch could buy Yahoo if AOL doesn't. His tech isn't cutting edge, but he does hate Google.
In your businesslike Thursday media column: Newsweek's price confirmed, TMZ's celebrity-friendly spinoff, AOL could buy newspapers, and Brian Tierney says goodbye.
Apple's PR staff would be well advised to reach out more to bloggers, or even blog on their own. So the mysterious overture Apple made to a TechCrunch editor at a Cupertino, California brewhouse could be a big positive step.
Mike Arrington just confirmed the rumors: He's selling his five-year-old blog company TechCrunch to AOL. And he's sticking around for at least three years to keep running the site.
Mike Arrington is close to selling his influential TechCrunch blog to AOL, GigaOm reports. An announcement is said likely at TechCrunch's ongoing Disrupt conference – from which Arrington has been notably absent this afternoon.
Veteran media reporter Jeff Bercovici is leaving AOL's Daily Finance to join Forbes. Spin, carousel!
It's all very simple, as far as AOL's CEO is concerned: The Web is ugly because it was designed by Silicon Valley nerds, so let's hire creative geniuses like the Jonas Brothers to redesign it.
After reading the news that Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston are getting back together to live in wedded conservative bliss, I immediately went to FoxNews.com to read the joyful comments and get angry. Why do I do this to myself?
Yesterday we heard about a supposed McDonald's fast food heir who was viciously beaten and robbed in France. But today there are reports that Geoffrey McDonald may not actually be one of those McDonalds.
After paying $850 million for Bebo in 2008, AOL is said to be selling the social network for $10 million or less. So, in barely two years, a near-billion-dollar deal imploded.
Yahoo bought Associated Content, known for churning out search-driven posts with an army of freelancers. The internet company is just the latest trying a hybrid cheap/pricey, highbrow/lowbrow approach to online journalism.
