Aol har været ude med det store muldvarpe skind, og har kastet den nette sum af $315 mio efter The Huffington Post. Det er ikke længe siden Aol købte TechCrunch som en del af deres store content strategi.
Det ser ud til at Tim Armstrong’s store re-branding bliver fulgt op af en hel del store opkøb, som skal sikre Aol føretrøjen på content siden. Hvorvidt denne Wall garden approach virker i verden hvor alt er nemt tilgængeligt på nettet bliver spændende at følge. Personligt tror jeg ikke Aol kan vriste Google reader ud af mine små fedtede barnehænder.
Kenny Lerer and I co-founded The Huffington Post in May 2005, we had high hopes. But even we would have been hard put to predict that less than six years later we would be able to announce a deal that now makes it possible for us to execute our vision at light speed. AOL is an online pioneer that engenders great trust among its 250 million global users. HuffPost is on the cutting edge of creating news that is social and brings with it a distinctive voice and a highly engaged audience. In this case, 1 + 1 = 11. Far from changing our editorial approach, our culture, or our mission, this moment will be, for HuffPost, like stepping off a fast-moving train and onto a supersonic jet. We’re still traveling toward the same destination, with the same people at the wheel, and with the same goals, but we’re now going to get there much, much faster
TechCrunch har selvfølgelig også en kommentar:
Wow – things are sure moving fast tonight. Following this evening’s big news, we’re hearing from multiple sources that, effective tomorrow morning, TechCrunch.com will be renamed HuffingtonCrunch.com. Please update your bookmarks.
For those who missed it, the change is the result of AOL’s acquisition of the Huffington Post and Arianna Huffington’s appointment as Editor In Chief of
the entire InternetAOL.According to the same sources, TechCrunch isn’t the only AOL property to be affected by the Huffington acquisition. We understand that, also from tomorrow, Popeater.com will be renamed “GOPeater.com”, PoliticsDaily will become “PoliticsDailyKos” and Mapquest will be rebranded as “Keith Olbermann’s BEST MAPQUEST IN THE WORLD”
Oh, and “Huffington Post Comedy” will now be called “Engadget