Arianna Huffington Would Oversee Patch and Other AOL Media in Buy-Out Deal

AOL, the parent company of Patch, has signed a deal to acquire The Huffington Post, whose well-known co-founder, Arianna Huffington, would assume oversight of Patch and other AOL media outlets.

The $315-million agreement would integrate The Huffington Post with Patch and other AOL media properties — including TechCrunch, Engadget and MapQuest among others — under the newly established Huffington Post Media Group, with Huffington as its president and editor-in-chief.

Huffington is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, one of the nation's most popular websites for news, commentary and lifestyle coverage.

Founded in 2005 and known also as “HuffPost” or “HuffPo,” the site now counts nearly 25 million unique monthly visitors, according to comScore. Many readers are drawn to its combination of news, commentaries, diverse features and active blogs. Contributors to the latter include a wide spectrum of prominent people, including Barack Obama, Madonna, Neil Young, Bill Gates and Bill Clinton.

An AOL announcement Monday said the new media group would have “a combined base of 117 million unique visitors a month in the United States and 270 million around the world,” based on December comScore data.

Huffington said Monday she’s made many announcements about The Huffington Post in her HuffPost blog posts in the past and declared, “But none can hold a candle to what we are announcing today.”

The AOL-Huffington Post marriage “will mark a seminal moment in the evolution of digital journalism and online engagement,” the AOL announcement said.

Coverage on the New York Times website said the “unlikely pairing of two online media giants” would “give AOL a major presence in journalism.”

Huffington has spoken supportively of locally focused civic engagement and expressed enthusiasm for Patch in particular.

El Cerrito Patch is part of the AOL-sponsored national network of local online news outlets now numbering 775 Patch sites across the nation.

The Patch organization is expected to continue as before for the time being.  Any reorganization under the new media group has not been determined, and the AOL acquisition of The Huffington Post is not expected to close until late in the first quarter or early in second quarter of this year.

Huffington said on her blog that the deal was signed Sunday at the Super Bowl, her first time at the annual football championship. Both she and Tim Armstrong, chairman and CEO of AOL, were at the game.

“The acquisition of The Huffington Post will create a next-generation American media company with global reach that combines content, community, and social experiences for consumers," Armstrong said in a statement. "Together, our companies will embrace the digital future and become a digital destination that delivers unmatched experiences for both consumers and advertisers."

Huffington said in statement, "This is truly a merger of visions and a perfect fit for us. The Huffington Post will continue on the same path we have been on for the last six years – though now at light speed – by combining with AOL.

“Our readers will still be able to come to the Huffington Post at the same URL, and find all the same content they've grown to love, plus a lot more – more local, more tech, more entertainment, more finance, and lots more video. We are fusing a legendary and powerful new media brand with a vibrant, innovative news organization, known for its distinctive voice, a highly engaged audience, an expertise in community-building, and a track record for demystifying the news and putting flesh and blood on the data while drawing our audience into the conversation."