Huffington Post in Limbo After Verizon-AOL Deal

A new report raises questions of how Arianna Huffington’s news outlet will fit at the corporation following $4.4 billion takeover

arianna huffington

The future of The Huffington Post is unclear following Verizon’s $4.4 billion takeover of parent company AOL.

The deal, which was announced in May, fueled speculation that HuffPo would be spun-off and sold to German media company Axel Springer.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Arianna Huffington‘s site is still in limbo as Verizon executives determine how to deal with it — or how comfortable she will be working with the corporation.

The Huffington Post will try to grow globally and expand its video operation, the editor said in a memo to staff last week obtained by the Times, and add to its network of unpaid bloggers, replace wire service articles with original reporting, increase comedy and lifestyle offerings, and might even make acquisitions of its own. But Arianna is not yet sure that those plans can be executed under Verizon, a source close to the situation told the Times.

Recently valued at $1 billion, Huffington Post was acquired by AOL in 2011 for $315 million. Having initially built its growth on aggregation, the 10-year-old site won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2012.

Issues that could cause potential clashes between the liberal site and the conservative corporation are net neutrality, the National Security Agency’s mass data collection programs and editorial independence.

The deal is expected to close next month. AOL and Verizon executives, including the Verizon chief executive, Lowell C. McAdam, met this week to discuss a range of issues with the future of The Huffington Post being among that top list.

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