Are you series? I had no idea. Damn. I take back my kudos. I thought she shoe-stringed it and did the rest w ad dollars.
They have grown into a full media hub and I’m sure they pay the celeb columnists well. Plus, Huff herself probably takes $1m a year or more for herself. (not complaining, if you can, go for it.. even if we disagree politically, at least they are doing it in the market.)
Who has a budget of about $12 million?
She’s a complete dunce and airhead, just wealthy
with many liberal and celebrity connections, and
a legend in her own mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Huffington Post raises USD15m
Political news site the Huffington Post has reportedly raised USD15m in a third round of funding from Oak Investment Partners. Rumours that the blog was seeking more funding this year began circulating in June, when Silicon Valley Insider said it was...
http://resources.bnet.com/topic/huffington+post.html
~~~~
Oak Investment Partners
Managing Partner: Bandel Carano
~~~~~
Newsmeat - Bandel Carano
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?city=Palo+Alto&st=CA&last=CARANO&first=BANDEL
~~~~
Will Investors Leash Arianna Huffington’s Spending?
###
Investor Takes Over Management of Huffington Post
By Ryan Tate, 4:25 PM on Mon Jun 15 2009,
As the Huffington Post bulks up, the company is apparently changing management: CEO Betsy Morgan is on her way out, replaced by Eric Hippeau of investor SoftBank Capital, PaidContent reports.
Morgan joined HuffPo in October 2007 after working as general manager at CBSNews.com. As CEO, she served on the HuffPo board along with Hippeau, Arianna Huffington, co-founder Kenneth Lerer and Fred Harman of Oak Investment Partners, which in December put $25 million into the internet publication.
That deal converted HuffPo’s election buzz and traffic into dollars, signaling that the publication was entering the media big leagues. Another key development was an investigative reporting grant, accompanied by the influx of veteran editors from other publications, including one from the Washington Post.
It’s been unclear whether the recent growth was compatible with founder Huffington’s often volatile and always idiosyncratic management style; today’s turnover could be a sign that HuffPo’s investors demanded closer supervision — or, less climactically, simply wanted Morgan out.
UPDATE: HuffPo confirms, in a statement that pointedly notes, “The Huffington Post co-founders Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer made the announcement” of Morgan’s departure and not, say, Softbank. Morgan, meanwhile, pointedly notes that she’s leaving with some shares of the company.
Huffington’s quote:
Having worked closely with [Hippeau] for the last three years, I know firsthand what an invaluable asset he has been in our expansion. And now, given his impressive background in the industry and his intimate knowledge of HuffPost, Eric is uniquely able to hit the ground running as the company takes its expansion to the next level.
Hippeau was CEO of tech publisher Ziff Davis from 1989-2000 and serves on the board of Yahoo. At Softbank, he’s a managing partner.
http://gawker.com/5291549/investor-takes-over-management-of-huffington-post