DHAKA: Arianna Huffington, who co-founded The Huffington Post 11 years ago and built it into one of the largest digital media outlets in the US, says she will be leaving the company in the coming weeks to focus on a soon-to-launch startup dedicated to issues of health and wellness.
Huffington, who is 66 years old, had signed a new deal in June of last year to remain at the Huffington Post as president and editor-in-chief through 2019. But she said the contract allowed her to launch the new company, Thrive Global, while continuing in her role at the site.
When she secured Series A funding for the new venture late last week, she said it had become clear she could no longer continue running the Huffington Post.
“I really thought I could do both, but as we started building it up, I realized that it really needed my full attention,” she said in an interview, reports wsj.com.
“It is important to know when one door closes and another opens and I felt that moment had arrived.”
Her continued role at her namesake site—which was acquired by AOL Inc. in 2011 for $315 million — had become unclear after AOL was bought by Verizon Communications Inc. for $4.4 billion last year.
The matter appeared put to rest when she signed the new contract, but her future with the site came into question again when she announced two months ago that she would be launching a new venture.
Huffington has published a number of books focusing on health and sleep issues, such as “Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder,” and “The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time”.
She had spent an increasing amount of time this year dedicated to giving lectures around the country on the subject and less time running the site.
Huffington, a Greek native, rose to US prominence in the 1990s as a political commentator. She co-founded the Huffington Post in 2005 along with Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart and Jonah Peretti, all of whom went on to become important figures in the digital media landscape.
BDST: 1805 HRS, AUG 11, 2016
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