The Arianna And Tim Show: It’s About Women, Power, And Local

Tim Armstrong and Arianna Huffington hosted a conference call with analysts this morning to discuss AOL's announced $315 million acquisition of the Huffington Post. The Huffington Post is expected to contribute $50 million in revenues this year, and quickly ramp up to a $100 million revenue run-rate. That still represents a tiny portion of AOL's $2.4 billion in revenue, but it is Armstrong's largest acquisition to date, and his team believes it will help put AOL over the top in terms of putting the company on a growth track again by 2013 in terms of adjusted EBITDA. Armstrong re-emphasized, as he did in an internal memo last night, that the driving factors behind the deal was how well the Huffington Post fit into the wheelhouse he is trying to build, particularly around women, influencers, and local (his 80-80-80 strategy). The Huffington Post was planning a massive expansion into both local and global coverage in 2011 as it was preparing for a possible IPO, and Huffington feels that the deal will help accelerate those plans. In particular she feels an affinity with Patch, AOL's burgeoning local news properties. In terms of women's content, specifically, Armstrong says it is "an area we feel the Web has been lacking, and Arianna is one of the world’s experts."