Huffpost Founder Arianna Huffington To Leave For Start-Up

CAPTION: Arianna Huffington, photographed at AOL, in New York, NY on Thursday, April 11, 2013. (Photographs by MARCUS YAM)All rights reserved except those specifically granted herein. Please contact +1.716.400.9363 or email CONTACT@MARCUSYAM.COM to inquire about any reproduction of this image.

The co-founder, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, Arianna Huffington is leaving the site she co-founded 11 years ago, to start a non-profit group focused on health and wellness called Thrive Global.

In an article announcing the departure, Michael Calderone, senior media reporter at The Huffington Post, said: “Her decision was not tied to Verizon buying Yahoo, a purchase that she said would be great for HuffPost because of the amazing distribution it can provide for our content.

“She said she’s been thinking about this transition for awhile, but the timing had to coincide with closing a funding round for Thrive Global on Friday.”

Huffington launched her namesake site in 2005, following the re-election of George W. Bush and as the war raged in Iraq. What began as a left-leaning answer to the Drudge Report, comprised primarily of aggregation and blog posts from friends, morphed over the years into a major news organization and digital media company that’s expanded into 15 countries. The site recently drew nearly 200 million monthly unique visitors globally.

Huffington says Thrive Global is a platform to “promote well-being and productivity,” “address the pandemic of stress,” “maximize creativity” and “transform our culture from surviving to thriving”. Thrive Global is expected to provide both consumer content, including a website, apps, and events, and corporate offerings such as workshops and seminars.

In a series of tweets Huffington announced her departure and thanked all the colleagues and friends she has made at the publisher:

I thought HuffPost would be my last act. But I’ve decided to step down as HuffPost’s editor-in-chief to run my new venture, Thrive Global.
— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) August 11, 2016

To everyone at HuffPost: it’s you who make HuffPost what it is. I’m filled with gratitude to all the colleagues and friends I’ve made here.
— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) August 11, 2016

Building something from scratch doesn’t get easier just because you’ve done it before. There is only 1 way to do it: w/ your full attention.
— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) August 11, 2016

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