Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post news site that has become a global phenomenon, announced Thursday she was stepping down to launch a nonprofit group focused on health and wellness.
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“I step down as editor-in-chief filled with gratitude for our wonderful HuffPost team and for what we’ve built together, and for [AOL CEO] Tim Armstrong who had the vision to buy HuffPost five years ago and to support from day one our global expansion”, said Huffington in a statement.
So now Ms. Huffington will turn her attentions to Thrive Global, a “corporate and consumer well-being and productivity platform” with $7 million in funding and a $33 million valuation.
Rising to fame as a political commentator in the 1990s, known for brusquely witty analysis delivered with a distinctive Greek accent, Huffington co-founded her eponymous site with Kenneth Lerer and Jonah Peretti in 2005. Initially, it was criticized for that practice by some journalists, including former New York Times editor Bill Keller. In 2012, it won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on its series of stories about wounded veterans. Huffington’s future at the news and opinion website was in question when AOL was bought by Verizon Communications Inc. for $4.4 billion in 2015.
The company is part of much larger entity – phone and cable company Verizon, which is on an acquisition spree as it builds out its digital ad business.
Huffington said that the Yahoo buyout had nothing to do with her decision to leave, according to an article on The Huffington Post.
In a press release, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong said of HuffPost that AOL and Verizon “are committed to continuing its growth and the groundbreaking work Arianna pioneered”.
“I’m filled with excitement at the prospect of devoting the rest of my life to accelerating the culture shift away from merely surviving and succeeding to thriving”, she said in a statement.
But Huffington has been very blunt in her distaste for Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president.
Others are less sure the site will not change.
Huffington has become a powerful force in her own right.
Thrive Global is expected to launch in November.
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Last year, Huffington published a book titled Thrive, covering themes similar to the mission of her new startup. In a post on her Twitter feed, Huffington said that she had originally meant to keep working at both sites.
