The New York Times is out with a new report about the Huffington Post that effectively functions as a sales pitch to potential buyers, should the site spin off from Verizon/AOL.
The report, by Ravi Somaiya, puts HuffPo’s annual revenue “in the hundreds of millions” and its estimated valuation at roughly $1 billion. Somaiya also reports that, prior to the Verizon deal, HuffPo had been courted by the likes Le Monde, Axel Springer (POLITICO’s partner in Europe), Napster founder Sean Parker; and the private equity firm General Atlantic.
The unknown quantity is Arianna Huffington, the site’s founder. Huffington has yet to re-up on her contract; at the same time, she’s laid out ambitious plans for the site, including global growth, an expanded video operation, and an increase in original reporting. But here’s the rub: “Ms. Huffington has told friends, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations, that she is not yet sure that those plans can be executed under Verizon.”
In other words, buy me now before I walk. Because what’s Huffington Post without Arianna Huffington?
What’s nagging at HuffPo are a string of less-than-savory reports about newsroom morale. On Tuesday, an anonymous former staffer published a brutal takedown of the site on Gawker, noting a wave of staff departures, poor editorial leadership and a “toxic” workplace culture. Then, hours later, our colleagues at Capital reported that John Montorio, one of the site’s most senior editors, would be leaving to pursue “extensive travel and writing.” (He will remain an editor-at-large working on various projects.”)
Surely, some of the troubles outlined in the Gawker report are exaggerated — the author says the workplace culture is “so brutal and toxic that it would meet with approval from committed sociopaths across the land” — but the general gripes comport with what we’ve heard from other sources, and what’s been previously reported. High on the list of complaints is that HuffPo is not committed to original reporting. Several staffers also take issue with Huffington’s meddling in any story that targets her friends. “If any of Arianna’s people get caught in a public mess,” anonymous writes, “there can be lots of internal delays while editors figure out whether they actually have permission from on high to mention the scandal.”
Staff departures and a general air of disgruntlement are unlikely to shake the fortunes of a major global media brand like Huffington Post, but they do taint the sales pitch.
This much, at least, made the Times article: “Some of its most lauded journalists have left… as reports swirl about a demoralized newsroom and mercurial demands from Ms. Huffington, who also pursued sideline interests in wellness and workplace culture. It has recently sought to bolster its reporting again, by starting a venue for deeper stories and vowing to replace wire service articles with original journalism.”