Arianna Leaves HuffPo for Wellness Venture

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Thu Aug 11, 2016 at 02:31:24 PM EST
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Arianna Huffington is leaving HuffPo to start a new wellness venture called Thrive Global. She announced the new venture in June, but thought at the time she'd be able to do both. Today she said that's simply not possible, so she's leaving Huffpo.

I think this is a great move for Arianna. So many people approaching her age (and mine) are focused on health and well-being. [More...]

I'm also not surprised since I read a few months ago that she would be spending a week at the Golden Door (my favorite health spa) as a featured summer speaker in July. Two of her most recent books have been about health and sleep rather than politics.

There may be some internal politics involving AOL/HuffPo/Verizon/Yahoo behind her decision, but I'm not familiar with that.

I have no doubt Thrive Global will be a huge success, and I wish her all the best. I've always liked her.

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Arianna Leaves HuffPo for Wellness Venture | 14 comments (14 topical)

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A little perspective............ (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by NYShooter on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 08:37:45 AM EST

I have some personal (and will remain personal) issues with some of Ms. Huffington's practices. But, giving a platform for unpaid bloggers' articles certainly isn't one of them. To keep things in perspective, the unpaid bloggers' contributions represent only a tiny (less than 5%) of all the literary offerings on the Huffpo site. And, that's just based on the number of articles posted. If you count the actual number of readers of the paid vs. the unpaid authors, based on the number of comments each draws, the amount of the unpaid authors' contributions is, simply, infinitesimal. LOL, Sorry, I'm laughing. It's just, The image of The Wicked Witch, building a multi million dollar business on the ragged, starving, and sweating backs of poor, oppressed authors, forcibly toiling day and night (rumor has it she allows only one pee-break every 24 hours) to fill the pages of "The Omen of Death, Llorona Huffington's Money Pit," is as factually wrongheaded as it is comical.

O.K. to be real now. Think of these authors as interns. They are unproven writers, being given an opportunity to display their skills on one of the very largest stages on all the internet. I don't know the stats, but I'd guess that the number of applicants begging to be allowed to show their "stuff" to the millions of eyeballs focused on Ms. Huffington's extremely successful stage, by far, exceeds the number that can fit into each day's edition. Each one hoping & praying that some "Truman Capote" or, "Bernie Weintraub" out there catches his/her article, and starts them off to a future of wealth and stardom. Why, I'll bet Arianna could charge them big money to display their wares, and, the line would circle Manhattan many, many times around.

What do you think a young Stevie Wonder or James Brown, before they became famous, would have answered the proprietors of The Apollo, if they were offered the opportunity to "show their stuff," without pay, on a Saturday Night in Harlem?

Alright, I'm done here. I hope I didn't offend anyone; If I did, I apologize........ T.G.I.F.

I think that's an eminently fair assessment. (none / 0) (#8)
by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 04:05:13 PM EST

You don't have to like Arianna Huffington personally -- I certainly don't -- in order to both acknowledge her obvious business savvy, and further appreciate what she was able to accomplish with her vision for The Huffington Post, which she virtually created from scratch.

Arianna gave progressive / liberal writers and analysts an opportunity to regain their voices in an increasingly conservative media world, and a home base to practice their craft. There were no guarantees that she would succeed when she first started her venture. But succeed she did, and she deserves lots of kudos for that.

Aloha.


: Why thank you, Donald (none / 0) (#9)
by NYShooter on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 05:52:16 PM EST

I really appreciate that.

and this would make sense, (none / 0) (#13)
by cpinva on Sat Aug 13, 2016 at 08:38:35 PM EST

"To keep things in perspective, the unpaid bloggers' contributions represent only a tiny (less than 5%) of all the literary offerings on the Huffpo site."

if I was talking about after the sale. I wasn't, I was talking about how she was able to build it up, so that it was of interest to those VC's, which was by using the services of unpaid writers.

since you were unable to even get the basics of my original and second post correct, everything after the quoted sentence above I didn't even bother with, as it was non-responsive to the actual issue I raised.


well good for her. (none / 0) (#1)
by cpinva on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 12:58:26 AM EST

I wonder, will she be getting other people to write articles for free, along with maybe doing volunteer work, so Ms. Huffington can sell the entity for a few million in profit at a later date?

asking for a friend.

im sorry cpinva (none / 0) (#2)
by linea on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 02:45:19 AM EST

i dont understand your comment.


Read up on the business model, linea (none / 0) (#3)
by Mr Natural on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 06:36:46 AM EST

The Huffington Post began as a giant sounding board for people who wrote (blogged) for the fun of it, unpaid.

According to wikipedia, in 2006 and 2008 several rounds of venture capital were invested in the enterprise. Real reporters, web engineers and designers, etc were hired.

In 2011, The Huffington Post was sold to AOL for $315 million. How the money was divided between Huffington and the VC investors was not revealed. Most of it probably went to the VCs. None of it went to the unpaid bloggers. Thus the slam.

FYI: Huffington's first descent into the blogosphere was the website, Resignation.com, which demanded the resignation of the famed philanderer-president Bill "what your definition of is, is" Clinton.


linea, see below comment. (none / 0) (#4)
by cpinva on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 07:48:34 AM EST

let me add a little more meat to the stew. had it not been for the exertions of the unpaid writers, Ms. Huffington's blog would have been something along the lines of the present blog, albeit lacking the professionalism & solid content of Ms. Merritt and her colleagues. it most certainly wouldn't have attracted the attentions of any VC's.

with respect to the allocation of the gain on the sale, I've yet to hear of any of the unpaid writers state they did share in said gain . if anyone here knows differently, please feel free to chime in.

full disclosure: I've never been a fan of Ms. Huffington, I find her writing to be at the hack level, as both a conservative and a purported liberal/progressive. in my opinion, had she not been married to a very wealthy man, she'd be doing a "Society" column in some suburban weekly. that said, the fact remains, she profited (handsomely) from the unpaid writing of others, and failed to share the wealth with them when it came.


Yes (none / 0) (#5)
by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 07:55:38 AM EST

But I liked it when she ran for governor of California along with the midget, the strongman, the Nazi and the crazy person.

That was almost as entertaining and terrifying as this.


Yes, it was, in its own macabre way (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 03:51:12 PM EST

And how did all that ultimately work out for California residents? They treated the recall election like it was all a cartoon, and they reaped cartoonish bad results.

;-D

Arianna first rubbed me the wrong way back in 1994, when she was still married to billionaire GOP CA Congressman / oil heir Michael Huffington and gleefully assumed the role of frontline attack dog for Newt Gingrich's GOP operation. The stuff she said about Democrats back then was truly vitriolic, and I absolutely despised her.

Then after hubby lost his $38 million bid to unseat Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 1994 (which was an enormous sum to spend on a Senate election in those days), he left his wife and children and ran off with his boyfriend, leaving Arianna to her subsequent liberal "come to Jesus moment."

Obviously, I'm not a fan of hers. Personally, I think she's first and foremost an opportunist, albeit a very smart and savvy one who always has her moistened finger in the air to gauge the winds. And as much as I've tried, I simply have trouble really trusting her, even when I find myself generally agreeing with her. Some bells simply can't be un-rung, even from 20+ years ago.

She would have made a better (none / 0) (#10)
by CaptHowdy on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 06:05:25 PM EST

Governor than Arnold. But that's a low bar.


: She would have, at that. (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Aug 12, 2016 at 07:18:43 PM EST

I was opposed to California voters even subjecting Gov. Davis to a recall without sfficient cause in the first place, and only nine months after they had re-elected him. From my perspective, that amounted to a wanton abuse of the recall process which otherwise might have lowered its bar permanently, had Gov. Schwarzenegger not subsequently performed so poorly in office as to cause many of those voters to second-guess the initial wisdom of their whimsical decision.
The recall of a public official from office is a potentially volatile process that should be used by voters very sparingly, and only under the most exceptional of circumstances, such as the commission of a felony crime or serious ethical violation. Instead, Republicans resorted to treating it as just another political weapon in their arsenal, never once pausing to consider either the dubious political precedent they were setting by doing so, or the possibility that Democrats might well use that precedent against them one day as a means to their own ends.
Aloha.

Arianna approved (none / 0) (#14)
by Jeralyn on Sun Aug 14, 2016 at 11:30:15 AM EST

Huffpo's payment to me for airfare for three trips to D.C to cover the Scooter Libby trial. I had a press pass and she was perfectly fine with my cross-posting the same articles at HuffPo and TalkLeft. I could post whenever and how little or much I wanted. There were no restrictive rules.

I'm met her in person several times. We did a TV show in LA together about gun control back in the 90's with the rapper Coolio (it was Leeza's show, she always had her guests fly to LA rather than use a local studio-- the difference between network TV and cable TV budgets back then I guess) and several cable shows in the next years. I spent some time with her at the DNC in Denver. She is very, very nice. When she was getting ready to start the Denver edition of Huffpo, she had the two person in charge of that meet with me to get my thoughts.

It was Arianna who invited me to post on HuffPo in the early years, and I appreciated the opportunity. It wasn't about money, it was about gaining a wider audience for my criminal defense views.

What I didn't like about Huffpo was the comments, but comments everywhere are like that, if not moderated.

I like Arianna a lot, and I don't let commenters here personally attack my friends (as opposed to criticize) so be careful in your phrasing. One comment has been deleted.

: I'll second that. I met her, briefly, in LA (none / 0) (#15)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Mon Aug 15, 2016 at 12:10:53 PM EST

long before HuffPo. We were at a public "Town Hall" lunch event and let me tell you she constantly, and I mean constantly, had people approaching her with ideas and ventures. From the minute she walked in the door.
She was great with them all - a perfect blend of consideration and business. She gave each one her full and undivided attention, and after a short but appropriate discussion she'd either thank them for their time or give them her biz card.
I certainly didn't spend the time with here that J has, but I was impressed.