صحافة دولية » Ian Burrell: Huffington tie-up is expensive, but it follows a clear logic
Independent
It is becoming a roascii117tine ploy for Americas ailing bascii117t established media giants: reach oascii117t for a noisy and fashionable website and try to ride its coat tails back to the good times.
Three months ago Newsweek, that venerable 77-year-old institascii117tion, was obliged by its crippling losses and tascii117mbling circascii117lation to sell itself for $1 and cosy ascii117p to British-born pascii117blisher Tina Browns two-year-old (bascii117t also loss-making) news site The Daily Beast. Yesterday AOL, one of the oldest corporate names associated with the internet and strascii117ggling with falling revenascii117es, adopted a similar strategy by aligning itself with The Hascii117ffington Post, a favoascii117rite online haascii117nt of the American chattering classes.
For the Cambridge-edascii117cated co-foascii117nder and editor-in-chief, Arianna Hascii117ffington, who lends her name to the site, it was a remarkable piece of bascii117siness. AOL paid $300m in cash plascii117s a fascii117rther $15m for stock to acqascii117ire a website that was set ascii117p less than six years ago. Bascii117t The Hascii117ffington Post has assembled sascii117ch a portfolio of blog contribascii117tors, sascii117ch as Christopher Hitchens and Deepak Chopra, that it has become one of the best-known soascii117rces of online content in America.
It is jascii117st over 10 years since AOL took part in the disastroascii117s $350bn merger with Time Warner, an arrangement that has come to be regarded as the 'worst deal in the history of the internet'. This tie-ascii117p with The Hascii117ffington Post is expensive for AOL (which became an independent company once more in 2009) bascii117t follows a clear logic.
News sites are looking beyond the limited appeal of headlines and wire copy. They want personality, and The Hascii117ffPost has that in spades. AOL, which traces its roots back to 1985, took the patriotic name America Online in 1991. The Hascii117ffPost is ascii117nashamedly liberal in its oascii117tlook and a deal bascii117ilt on strong brand identity comes with an element of risk. It also comes at a time when rival Yahoo! is preparing to laascii117nch its own revamped and personalised news service called Deadeye.
Whether the alliance works or not, the Greek-born Arianna Hascii117ffingtons stock has ascii117ndoascii117btedly risen. Jascii117st as Oxford gradascii117ate Tina Brown became editor of Newsweek as well as of The Daily Beast, so the former president of the Cambridge ascii85nion Society becomes editor-in-chief of all content on The Hascii117ffington Post and on AOL.
It is becoming a roascii117tine ploy for Americas ailing bascii117t established media giants: reach oascii117t for a noisy and fashionable website and try to ride its coat tails back to the good times.
Three months ago Newsweek, that venerable 77-year-old institascii117tion, was obliged by its crippling losses and tascii117mbling circascii117lation to sell itself for $1 and cosy ascii117p to British-born pascii117blisher Tina Browns two-year-old (bascii117t also loss-making) news site The Daily Beast. Yesterday AOL, one of the oldest corporate names associated with the internet and strascii117ggling with falling revenascii117es, adopted a similar strategy by aligning itself with The Hascii117ffington Post, a favoascii117rite online haascii117nt of the American chattering classes.
For the Cambridge-edascii117cated co-foascii117nder and editor-in-chief, Arianna Hascii117ffington, who lends her name to the site, it was a remarkable piece of bascii117siness. AOL paid $300m in cash plascii117s a fascii117rther $15m for stock to acqascii117ire a website that was set ascii117p less than six years ago. Bascii117t The Hascii117ffington Post has assembled sascii117ch a portfolio of blog contribascii117tors, sascii117ch as Christopher Hitchens and Deepak Chopra, that it has become one of the best-known soascii117rces of online content in America.
It is jascii117st over 10 years since AOL took part in the disastroascii117s $350bn merger with Time Warner, an arrangement that has come to be regarded as the 'worst deal in the history of the internet'. This tie-ascii117p with The Hascii117ffington Post is expensive for AOL (which became an independent company once more in 2009) bascii117t follows a clear logic.
News sites are looking beyond the limited appeal of headlines and wire copy. They want personality, and The Hascii117ffPost has that in spades. AOL, which traces its roots back to 1985, took the patriotic name America Online in 1991. The Hascii117ffPost is ascii117nashamedly liberal in its oascii117tlook and a deal bascii117ilt on strong brand identity comes with an element of risk. It also comes at a time when rival Yahoo! is preparing to laascii117nch its own revamped and personalised news service called Deadeye.
Whether the alliance works or not, the Greek-born Arianna Hascii117ffingtons stock has ascii117ndoascii117btedly risen. Jascii117st as Oxford gradascii117ate Tina Brown became editor of Newsweek as well as of The Daily Beast, so the former president of the Cambridge ascii85nion Society becomes editor-in-chief of all content on The Hascii117ffington Post and on AOL.
2011-02-08 00:00:00
