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Arrington out at AOL (for real this time)
- arepb 15y agoI don't think he was ever really going to become an "AOL Ventures" employee per this erroneous subhead here. There are really only 3 guys at AOLV and it seems his relationship with them was going to be as a LP.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- juxta 15y agoI can see the headlines now "Crunchfund backed by AOL - will go without Micheal Arrington just like the Crunchpad backed by Micheal Arrington - will go without Micheal Arrington".
- olivercameron 15y agoTech news just became a whole lot more boring. I, for one, will miss his scoops, they were always the most exciting, scandalous ones.
- Steko 15y agoLike he won't start a new site?
- olivercameron 15y agoWith a probable non-compete?
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- culturestate 15y agoWhich noncompetes have been repeatedly held unenforceable (acquisition NC's not included, but they usually have a short lifespan) in California?
- staunch 15y agoHe lives in Washington legally. Non-competes are generally enforceable even in California in the case of acquisitions like this. It's hard to argue that he wasn't given sufficient "consideration" which is usually the main issue for normal non-competes in employment contracts. IANAL though.
- nikcub 15y agoI doubt it could stop him starting a personal blog or tumblr. he might do it just to find out what happens
- chollida1 15y agoTypically they are only enforceable if you leave, or sign some sort of severance package, if it can be enforced at all. It's very doubtful it can be enforced if you're fired.
- ltamake 15y agoI'm not sure if he's not allowed to write for TC anymore. I think he's just not the editor-in-chief.
- eliben 15y agoBoring, really? What excites you about tech news is not their intrinsic technological value (as in "whoa, nice hack"), but soap-opera-married-reality-show-like drama announcements? (as in "X said Y about Z. OMG, OMG. What will Z say back? stay tuned") Then, sir, I respectfully disagree.
- jmtame 15y agoIs there anything to stop Arrington from creating another news blog? He's losing properties like CrunchBase and the conferences, but why not take a few of the TC employees and keep writing news?
- arepb 15y agoYes, a noncompete. It will likely be something they leverage in order to do his earnout.
- ethank 15y agoNon-competes are flimsy in California, but a bit more on the "maybe" in Washington. It all depends on which employment law his agreement (and the employment agreements of the other writers, if they have them) are under. Anti-poaching is typically a term of the severance and is enforceable typically. EDIT: Corrected below, thanks! Non-competes do apply in acquisitions.
- mrkurt 15y agoNon-competes tied to acquisition earnouts are an entirely different beast than employment non-competes. They very much apply in California.
- jmtame 15y agoNon-competes for acquisitions in California are enforceable. It's one of the few exceptions where it can actually be enforced, but they usually expire after a year.
- callmeed 15y agoIANAL but my understanding is that an acquisition (eg AOL buying TC) is one scenario where a non-compete holds up, even in CA.
- _delirium 15y agoEven outside tech--- there was a Greek restaurant in Santa Cruz whose owner sold it, and then waited exactly N years (I forget what N equals) before opening a new restaurant, due to the noncompete.
- molecule 15y agohttp://istechcrunchdeadyet.com/ http://istechcrunchdeadyet.com/ "What happens if arrington leaves (as many founders do) "Site is done. He leaves, and his sources will follow him and he will setup shop elsewhere."
- Steko 15y agoSite will likely coast at current levels for awhile.
- drivebyacct2 15y agoAh, I should know with a domain like that to expect more than trollish drivel when describing sites that Abed has probably never even bothered to try to be a part of. Oh well.
- mahmud 15y agoWhat do I have to do to never hear of this man again? EVER.
- gnu6 15y agoI paraphrase the FBI's cordial letter of November 1964 to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "Arrington, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do [it]. … You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation."
- mahmud 15y agoUmm, that was a bit too heavy handed. I wish the man health, long life and prospority. And I wish to myself an internet without his drama.
- gnu6 15y agoI agree, in retrospect my comment was totally inappropriate.
- redthrowaway 15y agoLink to said letter?
- waitwhat 15y agoI was curious enough about this that I looked into it... There's an excerpt on his wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr. then search the text for "anonymous", and an image of it at http://www.oilempire.us/cointelpro.html http://www.oilempire.us/cointelpro.html TIME magazine also mentioned the letter in 1975 at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913763,00.html http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913763,00.h...
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- ethank 15y agoReminds me of the Theseus Paradox: if all component parts (Arrington + writers) of Techcrunch are replaced will it be Techcrunch? And conversely, if all component parts setup shop at a new blog, is that Techcrunch (a map/territory debate perhaps?) Oh how I would kill to be the lawyers perusing employment agreements, anti-poaching clauses, etc right now. And very much looking forward to Disrupt this week.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- TomOfTTB 15y agoI guess it depends on how you interpret this graph: http://siteanalytics.compete.com/engadget.com/?metric=uv http://siteanalytics.compete.com/engadget.com/?metric=uv (given their contentious relationship it is ironic that AOL killed both Jason Calacanis and Mike Arrington's greatest accomplishments in the exact same way)
- Dramatize 15y agoCompete/Alexa rankings are worthless. It is known.
- TomOfTTB 15y agoI agree on the specific numbers and on smaller sites. But on sites as large as engadget I think they can show fairly accurate trending
- arn 15y agoThey really don't, even for large sites. comparison: - http://www.quantcast.com/macrumors.com#traffic http://www.quantcast.com/macrumors.com#traffic (measured) - http://siteanalytics.compete.com/macrumors.com/ http://siteanalytics.compete.com/macrumors.com/
- deleted 15y ago
- wavephorm 15y agoThis whole things sounds like one big publicity stunt.
- barclay 15y agoI'm glad I'm not the only skeptic. Something about this whole thing feels a little too contrived and over the top to me.
- bluedanieru 15y agoHow seriously does anyone take Techcrunch as a news source? Will this help?
- rdouble 15y agoGetting fired on purpose is a perfect way for him to go out. He gets his money and gets to go work on something else, or simply not work. Meanwhile, AOL gets stuck holding the bag and looking like the bad guy. I had an old boss who did something similar.
- dave1619 15y agoThis really could be the end of TechCrunch as we know it. It's too bad. HN and TC are the two sites I frequent the most often. Arrington leaving will probably lead to Siegler and maybe Kincaid leaving, and then TC is as boring as any other site out there.
- alain94040 15y agoLet's just say that TechCrunch Disrupt next week will be fun to attend :-)
- EponymousCoward 15y agoWhen does he appear on DWTS?
- notatoad 15y agodoes the end of the drama mean that i can stop paying attention to TC again soon? they never seemed to have too much of a presence on HN or reddit, but since all the Arrington drama has come up there seems to be a lot more of their articles being shared, and i don't mean just the drama-related stuff. people seem to be using TC as a source for all sorts of stuff that i would normally see linked to on founder's blogs instead.
- sofuture 15y agoThis is abhorrently unimportant drama. TC has been a trash rag from the start, and their flaming dramatic burnout is just as trash as everything else they've ever published. Go away already. This is publicity coup 101 shit. DIAF.
- SodMerkin 15y agoOh get off the high horse and allow those of us who are enjoying this soap opera to indulge in some "abhorrently unimportant drama". You have no guilty pleasures?
- jarek 15y agoI don't know about you but I don't post my guilty pleasures on Hacker News
- zackattack 15y agoHacker News is my biggest guilty pleasure. I know what I should be doing ... but I like to feel involved in a community, so I post here. Picking up little bits of information is a bonus.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- nl 15y agoI don't get the vitriolic hate that TechCrunch gets on HN. Sure, it can be trashy at times but it plays a very useful role in the Startp ecosystem. If it didn't exist then either Startups would get a lot less attention or some other publication would fill its place. I think startups getting less attention is - on the balance - a bad thing. If a publication other than TC was publication-of-record then it is difficult to say if it would be better or worse. Arrington did a media startup, cashed out and was going to run a VC fund. What's wrong with that?
- diogenescynic 15y ago
- anonaol 15y ago(throwaway account for the natural reasons) As an engineer at Aol, articles like this drive me crazy. I'm not 100% sold on the company's viability as it stands (MapQuest, AIM, and Moviefone don't really belong together), but I do want it to succeed. Bizzarre politicking played out publicly and the steady stream of internal emails stating "so-and-so got promoted and other-so-and-so is gone effective immediately" are getting disheartening. I know the siren song of "it doesn't have to be like this" that startups sing (and, until relatively recently, all I worked at were startups). But (surprise!) Aol has a lot of great engineers. Once you get an excuse to work cross-property and can see that on a bigger scale, it begins to feel like "Hey, if we had the opportunity, we could build some (more) amazing stuff." But we're constantly reminded that this is a HuffPo world now and business drama is par for the course. Sigh.
- fleaflicker 15y agoaol is not a software company. it is not a tech company either, and hasn't been for a long time. it was an ad-sales company until 2008 and now it is a media company.
- kanamekun 15y ago@fleaflicker - You would be in a unique position to know! "Touchdown Called Back: Fleaflicker Founder Buys Back Fantasy Sports Site From AOL" "Over three years ago, we reported that AOL had acquired the New Jersey-based fantasy sports site Fleaflicker. It seemed like a touchdown for 26-year-old founder Ori Schwartz. Now it's looking more like a touchdown that was just called back." "AOL has alerted members of the service today that Schwartz has bought back Fleaflicker. As of July 22, AOL will no longer be in control of the site which has dwindled under the control of our parent company. "While we love Fleaflicker (and our users love Fleaflicker), we wanted to find a home for the product where it can receive more love and attention," is the subtle middle finger in their FAQ." http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/22/fleaflicker-the-aol-way/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/22/fleaflicker-the-aol-way/
- anonaol 15y agoYou're right. I'm probably just a naive engineer who got acquired in a purchase, but I wish it were better and I think it could be (in a magical universe where better decisions get made by a great many people).
- zackattack 15y agoIs TechCrunch still going to give priority scoops to YCombinator startups? Is YC's stock going to rise or plummet because of this? Will Arrington still have Aol investing in his new fund? Will Arrington be eager to invest in YC companies?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- ilamont 15y agoThe sourcing on this article is vague ("Fortune has learned that AOL executives have decided to terminate Arrington. It is unclear how this will officially occur"). As we have learned in the past week, even when AOL sources are on more solid footing the story seems to be quite slippery. I feel bad for other TechCrunch employees who must be feeling very uncertain about their careers right now, in an already uncertain industry.
- drivebyacct2 15y agoWho cares? Does anyone think that TC OR Arrington will become any less influential or important? If anything this is GREAT for Arrington. Lots of press about his new venture, lots of press about his legacy TC, and now he can act in an independent journalistic capacity (even with respect to his investment company) for his own purposes. I just don't get why there are two stories every day about this on HN. (Nothing like TC drama to bring out the silent downvotes)
- redthrowaway 15y agoHis new venture has $8M of AOL funding promised to it, so that could be awkward to say the least. The drama ain't over yet.
- dasil003 15y agoNah, it's a win-win. I mean I'm sure there will be follow-on drama because that's part of the win.
- daimyoyo 15y agoDoes anyone know if his earnout has a "without cause" section written into it? Since Mike is a lawyer I presume it is but I don't know for sure. Seems likely he was let go without cause and I wonder if that means he'll vest immediately.
- geboyr 15y agoAfter reading the article above as well as TechCrunch the past few days, does anyone have another link or two detailing AOL's point of view in all of this? Arrington branded this as needing journalistic independence, and per the linked article, it seems to be bad execution of whatever it was AOL was trying to do. Drama and secret motivations aside, anyone give credibility to Arrington's call for journalistic independence of TC and what I'm perceiving of his belief that one can still be called a 'journalist' if you're transparent enough about what you're doing outside of the journalism job? To take a quote from one of the people he interviewed at TC Disrupt in NY, "transparency is the new objectivity" - any thoughts?
- res0nat0r 15y agoI'm guessing this drama wouldn't have occurred if happened to anyone other than Arrington.
- kirillzubovsky 15y agoI think a lot of readers here fail to understand that the worry isn't whether TC can live w/out Michael Arrington, but rather what kind of culture will be instilled onto TC when Arianna Huffington has a direct say in what is being said and done. Sure, TC Disrupt can go without Arrington, but will you still like it when it starts resembling more of New York fashion show? On a very basic level, this is the same reason why investors used to dump Apple stock every time Steve took a yet another leave of absence.
- franze 15y agowell, here is a new TC story http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2973357 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2973357 basically a TC guy made a honest joke about HP and TC censored itself.