At first glance, the AOL purchase of Huffpo seems close to inexplicable. With an estimated 25 million readers, it would seem that AOL are paying slightly over twelve bucks a reader and how the fuck they expect to recoup that is anyone’s guess. The disturbing part comes at the end of the story. “The work of its 70-person paid staff is augmented by content from news outlets and 6,000 bloggers who write for free.” Yes, my friends, once again the assumption is made that, while the corporate assholes toss around hundreds of millions, the writers with work for nothing. I’ve never written for Huffpo, but if I had I sure as shit wouldn’t do it any more.
“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 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." (Click here for more)
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The secret word is Grasping
I was surprised when a friend of mine told me he wrote for The Huffington Post for free. Beware of Greeks bearing blogs.
ReplyDeleteInexplicable if the purchase was to make money but if the move was to get control of a media-source it makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that La Huffington was once an arch right-wing conservative until she supposedly smoked dope and had a revelation.
ReplyDeleteif you do the maths she is being paid the annual salary of 6000 writers
ReplyDeleteAnd Huffington can make a few more dollars out of selling commemorative plates for this year's Royal Wedding.
ReplyDeletesay what you like,i love her & i intend making her my bride.1/3 bill will go someway to clearing my tab with gordons
ReplyDeleteSay what you like about Ariana but her Picasso book was a pretty good read I thought. Feminist perspective of course but not ball busting.
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