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AOL buys Huffington Post for $315mm in cash
- jtchang 16y agoAOL is very different from what a lot of us remember it as. The moves they are making will position it very well as a strong content provider. It's kind of nostalgic in a way in that AOL started out providing premium content in a very organized fashion for the web.
- tomkarlo 16y agoHow is it that different? It still makes most of its money off dialup subscriptions. Considering how much crap content they pump out, it's amazing they don't make more from that.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- beagledude 16y agoI'm just amazed AOL still has money
- cfinke 16y agoIt's amazing what kind of revenue you can make when you own some of the most popular websites on Earth. </sarcasm>
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- dstein 16y agoWhen AOL merged with Time-Warner they kinda traded half of their wealth with eachother. AOL's half turned out to be worthless.
- iwwr 16y agoDoesn't AOL still make a couple of $billions per year from old dial-up internet subscriptions?
- redthrowaway 16y agoA large chunk of whom don't actually know they're still signed up, if I recall correctly.
- marknutter 16y agoI wonder if there'd be a business in finding out who's subscribed and for a small fee helping them get unsubscribed from AOL.
- jarek 16y agoBe sure to incorporate where they can't sue you and get a domain name ICE can't seize.
- jarek 16y agoCurious as to why this has been downvoted. Do you suppose AOL will sit by idly while you undermine part of its business model? What legal methods of obtaining the subscriber list do you suggest? Do you think a business helping people to unsubscribe from a $10/month or so service will be valuable enough to defend against a legal challenge from a major corporation, valid or otherwise? Am I missing something?
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- l0nwlf 16y agoNo, they don't. They make money mostly by ads.
- phil 16y ago
- simonsarris 16y agoTechCrunch, Bebo, and MapQuest are all owned by AOL. And MapQuest still has the greatest market share somehow... edit: AOL sold Bebo in June
- mhansen 16y agoMapQuest still has the greatest market share link? I've never heard this
- abraham 16y agoGoogle Maps has a larger market share then MapQuest by quite a bit: http://www.hitwise.com/us/datacenter/main/dashboard-10133.html http://www.hitwise.com/us/datacenter/main/dashboard-10133.ht...
- l0nwlf 16y ago> And MapQuest still has the greatest market share somehow... No. Google maps has the greatest market share. Mapquest is #2. Disclaimer: I'm interning at MapQuest.
- GBond 16y agoAOL really screwed up MapQuest. They had: - the largest market share in consumer free web maps (probably as recent as 4 years ago) - the holy grail for marketers. The brand reached "verbing" status. People used to say "MapQuest it" - a health paid API biz. But sold that part of the biz to Microsoft's MapPoint (I was a customer of this and they basicly said I was SOOL when it happened) It is clear they screwed up MQ but I'm more hopeful with AOl's recent moves. They know their strength lies in making content and getting eyeballs and the companies they grow/acquire reflects that.
- coderdude 16y agoThey're a totally different company nowadays. Hard to hate when they're doing so damn well for themselves. :)
- brown9-2 16y agoWhat's the definition of doing well? Spending money to acquire others? IIRC their new blog/online strategy has yet to be profitable.
- simonsarris 16y agoImmediately an article I saw in December comes to mind: AOL Investigation: No Proof TSA Scanners Are Safe http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/20/aol-investigation-no-proof-tsa-scanners-are-safe/ http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/20/aol-investigation-no-proof... Back then my first thought was: Wait, AOL does investigations? I think this is a win for both parties and for readers. With a sort-of 'proper' news site maybe AOL's own journalism can be taken more seriously, and conversely maybe they can make HuffPo more journalistic in the first place!
- lucisferre 16y agoWhile some of the HuffPost I do find interesting and even occasionally well written, I'd still have to say your argument amounts to: if we take one steaming pile and combine it with another steaming pile it'll come out smelling like roses.
- jarin 16y agoI think the key news bit here is that Ariana Huffington will be in charge of all of AOL's blog/news properties.
- arepb 16y agoAlso leaves David Eun (AOL media boss) in an odd spot.
- bvi 16y agoThat would make her Arrington's boss, among others, wouldn't it?
- zacharycohn 16y agoCorrect. Paul Carr's words: "I have no idea how any of this will affect TechCrunch. So far AOL has kept true to its promise not to interfere with our editorial and there’s no reason to suppose that will change under Huffington. That said, it would be idiotic to think that our parents’ content strategy – particularly the SEO stuff – won’t have annoying trickle-down consequences for all of us in the long term." [edit- Corrected source of the quote.]
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- Samuel_Michon 16y agoFor those who haven't read it yet, AOL's "Master Plan" for its blogs and news sites: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-aol-way http://www.businessinsider.com/the-aol-way AOL tells its editors to decide what topics to cover based on four considerations: traffic potential, revenue potential, edit quality and turn-around time. AOL asks its editors to decide whether to produce content based on "the profitability consideration." The documents reveal that AOL is, when the story calls for it, willing to boost traffic by 5 to 10% with search ads and other "paid media." AOL site leaders are expected to have eight ideas for packages that could generate at least $1 million in revenue on hand at all times. In-house AOL staffers are expected to write five to 10 stories per day. Every time AOL buys another site, I mourn.
- MatthewDP 16y agoIs HuffPo really worth 7-8 times what AOL paid for Weblogs, Inc. and TechCrunch?
- cfinke 16y agoIn terms of unique visitors, HuffPo beats TechCrunch 10:1.
- ohyes 16y agoAnd in terms of demographics, I mean, my mom reads Huffington post. Ariana Huffington is well-known enough to have done the talk-show circuit at least once. Tech crunch is a niche demographic (silicon valley gossip is only interesting to people inside that particular bubble). I'm honestly not sure what weblogs inc is.
- cfinke 16y agoWeblogs, Inc. was the company that created Engadget, AutoBlog, Joystiq, etc. That acquisition essentially became the backbone of the content-oriented company into which AOL is transforming.
- jarin 16y agoAlso to put it into "tech world" context, Weblogs, Inc. was started by Jason Calacanis.
- acangiano 16y agoNot to mention that your mom is far more valuable from an ad revenue perspective. Chances are you've never clicked on ads displayed on TechCrunch.
- eli 16y agoI would have to disagree there. The TechCrunch audience is a relatively self-selecting group of technology and startup enthusiasts. This is valuable. There are companies that want to reach these people. Huffington Post, I imagine, is mostly liberals of all genders, income, and level of education. I think there are far fewer companies that want to reach all of HuffPo's diverse readership. Consider why popular, prestigious sites like washingtonpost.com have ads for Mesothelioma lawsuits and home mortgage refinancing.
- earl 16y agoHow is Ariana going to justify not paying almost all contributors now? Amazing that she built this on the backs of authors, most of whom got paid nothing. Am I alone in finding this exploitative?
- jdludlow 16y agoWas she forcing them to write articles for her? If they agreed to do it for free, then where is the exploitation?
- radicaldreamer 16y agoI think a lot of authors and journalists voluntarily write for Huff Post to raise their profile... and I think it's great! If I were a journalist, if Huff Post or Talking Points Memo published articles that I authored, I'd be ecstatic, especially considering the economic situation a lot of journalists find themselves in these days.
- lachyg 16y agoThis is the exact same argument that is used for people in-favor of 'SPEC' work. Which gets down voted to nothing on HackerNews, yet this and its parent are getting upvoted. Interesting.
- wmeredith 16y agoIt's all about context: If someone asks me for spec work I tell them no, if I ask someone to do spec work for them to raise my profile I'm hoping they don't tell me no.
- earl 16y agoProfile doesn't pay the rent. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/4/29/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/4/29/
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- juanefren 16y agoAs a non native English speaker, the first thing my head thought was AOL paying with banknotes.
- KMStraub 16y agoThis after the About.me buy. I'm excited to see how this reinvention pans out.
- toephu 16y agoAOL sux, they shoulda died in the 1990s
- ActiveIndian 16y agoNow Thats a price which certainly deserves attention. This is the second acquisition after about.me from AOL. Lot to come i am sure, but anyways users would be benefited,
- veb 16y agoHow long would it take AOL to make $315 million + profit from HuffPost?
- mkr-hn 16y agohttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-14/huffington-post-nears-first-annual-profit-expects-sales-to-triple-by-2012.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-14/huffington-post-nea...
- spoiledtechie 16y agoI don't know if this a good thing or bad. First AOL is a giant when it comes to news these days. Along with Fox, CNN and MSNBC. I guess this allows for another competitor to hit the market. But also allows for News to be under control again by a large corporation and that corporations views on how the world should be reported. I would gladly see Huff Post move to Television and Maybe more investigative like Reuters. Those area's would gladly and happily be invested in, if I owned a large New Corp.
- l0nwlf 16y agoTim Armstrong is getting AOL to do all the deals that Bartz should be doing at Yahoo.
- thought_alarm 16y agoSend your comments and feedback to arianna1950@aol.com
- ojbyrne 16y ago1+1 = 11. Inspired idiocy. Or something.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- boh 16y agoI wonder if AOL will try to buy Gawker too.
- kmfrk 16y agoBuy Gawker would definitely ensure that they are covered in most, if not all, blogging genres. They also own Engadget, though, and I would love to see how that would comply with owning Gizmodo.
- look_lookatme 16y agoI suspect Gawker isn't interested in being bought.