Archive for the ‘AOL’ tag
Ariana Huffington should have left before Michael Arrington
Michael Arrington 2011
It was a mistake for AOL to recently allow Michael Arrington to depart TechCrunch as Editor. If Ariana Huffington and Arrington couldn’t work together, Arrington should have been made to report to AOL CEO Tim Armstrong rather than Huffington.
If that wouldn’t work, then Huffington should have been fired.
On a much smaller scale, the harm done to TechCrunch by the removal of Arrington reminds me of the damage done to Apple by the removal of Steve Jobs by John Scully.
I once read that Arrington wanted TechCrunch to be as big as CNet was at its peak. I predict that will never happen without Arrington at the helm.
CNet used to be worth USD billions of dollars. TechCrunch to date has peaked at a mere USD $30 million, and is likely worth much less this moment.
I doubt Arrington really wants to run TechCrunch long term as it must be grueling and exhausting work. I think Arrington will do well as a venture capitalist. I wonder how long his non-compete lasts. I can see him starting a personal blog. I can see him becoming one of the most read individual bloggers in the tech world when that happens. I’ve already read Arrington intends any day to start a personal blog. It must have been unwieldy towards the end with so many writers to oversee at TechCrunch. I bet Arrington would welcome a return to simpler times where he’s the primary or only writer on a site. People will read what he has to say even if he increases his number of conflicts dramatically.
I wish Arrington well. I’ve only met him once for a few seconds, but he was nice, already knew I founded gOffice and was not dismissive, which I appreciated.
