Having earned about $100m from an AOL buyout and launched a UK-focused site, the Huffington Post founder is on the rise
Job: president and editor-in-chief, Huffington Post Media Group
Age: 60
Industry: digital media
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It is two years since Arianna Huffington last appeared on the Media Guardian 100. So what's changed?
First, the Huffington Post, her groundbreaking news and opinion website, was bought by AOL for $315m (making its founder about $100m in the process). Second, the darling of the stateside liberal media elite launched a UK version of the website which, in the US, surpassed the online audience of the New York Times for the first time this year.
As the Guardian and the Daily Mail turn their attention to expanding their US audience, Huffington is crossing the Atlantic in the other direction. Initial response was lukewarm – but underestimate the Greek-born internet pioneer (the "Madonna of new media") at your peril.
The AOL deal saw Huffington take control of all of AOL's editorial content, including TechCrunch and MapQuest. Huffington described it as her "last act" and said she wanted to "stay for ever".
The deal was not without controversy, prompting a backlash from the army of unpaid bloggers who contributed content to the HuffPo but were rewarded with nothing. Time will tell how keen they remain to write for a site owned by a corporate giant, and whether the merger between the two will ultimately be a good thing or bad, AOL having an unenviable track record in this sort of thing.
Cambridge University-educated and a one-time lover of the late Times journalist Bernard Levin, Huffington set up her eponymous website in 2005 after a failed bid to become governor of California, losing out to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/24/arianna-huffington-mediaguardian-100-2011
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