Remaking AOL in Huffington's Image
The Huffington Post made a name for itself through a formula of buzzy political commentary splashed with celebrity gossip and traffic-grabbing tricks.
Now its co-founder, Arianna Huffington, is plunging into a campaign to rescue AOL Inc.. As the new editor in chief of AOL’s 56 content sites, a job she began after AOL’s $315 million acquisition of the Huffington Post closed last month, Ms. Huffington is installing her employees, pushing coverage of her pet topics and gutting aspects of AOL’s existing system to do so.
“There was no clear editorial direction,” she said of AOL’s collection of sites, settling into her new office in New York recently. “That’s what we’re bringing to the table now.”
Whether the moves will be enough to transform the struggling Internet icon–and turn significant profits–remain to be seen. AOL has struggled in its years’-long quest to generate a big business off inexpensive digital content. The company says it aiming to make its content business, minus its Patch blog network, profitable this year.
