In Verizon deal, AOL may spin off The Huffington Post
You could be forgiven for forgetting that AOL, a dinosaur of the dial-up era, is the owner of The Huffington Post, a website which continues to dominate the online media industry. But HuffPo has been an AOL property since 2011, when it was purchased for $300 million, and it is unclear whether the purveyor of all things side boob will remain a part of the company as it becomes absorbed by Verizon.
Kara Swisher at Re/code reports that AOL is in talks to spin off HuffPo:
The talks have been most serious with Axel Springer, the German media conglomerate, but a number of private equity firms have also expressed interest in the high-profile property. Sources said The Huffington Post has been valued at above $1 billion in this scenario that would either be a complete sale or, more likely, structured as a joint venture. [Re/code]
For context, HuffPo's main competitor, BuzzFeed, was valued at $850 million in 2014.
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