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Huffington Post Nabs $25 Million in Funding

Posted Dec 01, 2008 09:28am EST by Kara Swisher in Investing, Internet, Media, Newsmakers, Venture Capital, M and A, IPOs

From All Things Digital, Dec. 1, 2008:

A BoomTown Interview with Oak Investment’s Fred Harman

The Huffington Post will announce this morning that it has raised $25 million, in a single investment from Oak Investment Partners.

The large round by Oak, which was led by Palo Alto, Ca.-based venture capitalist Fred Harman, will give the popular online news and blog site a valuation of just “south of $100 million,” a source said.

The new funding, the Huffington Post’s third, will be used for expansion of its offerings and the hiring of editorial and business talent.

“There is an inevitable shift from offline to online with people increasingly getting their news media online, and this election proved how powerful the Huffington Post could be,” said Harman, in an interview with BoomTown. “And I think the post-election perception of the Huffington Post has changed in the eyes of advertisers to being a key mainstream news site.”

Indeed, the Huffington Post–which is now billing itself as ‘”The Internet Newspaper”–has been hitting on all cylinders during the current election season.

And it hopes to continue building that momentum into the Obama administration, which will give the liberal-leaning site a lot of advantages in coverage.

The Huffington Post has also become a powerful news aggregator, much as the more conservative Drudge Report has, sending traffic all over the Web from its site by linking with a variety of online sites. It also has a strong offering of high-profile bloggers.

But the site’s leaders are also hoping its traffic strength will allow it to be as strong in arenas outside of its flagship political arena, including in business, local, “green” and investigative news.

It will also use the money to make acquisitions, the company said in a press release about the funding, which it put out this morning.

It’s certainly a long way from May of 2005, when its high-profile Co-Founder Arianna Huffington was roundly mocked for launching the site. Today, she has seen her power grow as the site’s traffic and influence has.

The site’s namesake operates out of her California-based office in Los Angeles, while the company has its HQ in New York.

For the full story, see the jump.

For additional news from All Things Digital, click here.

42 Comments

CB44
CB44 - Monday December 01, 2008 11:07AM EST

Fred Harmon? Any relation to California Congresswoman and Democrat Jane Harmon? Gee, I wonder if Ms. Huffington will run a single article about how the economy went south a year after Democrats took control of Congress and ignored the warning signs and refused to help the country, placing Party before Country.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday December 01, 2008 11:09AM EST

Oak Investments also invested in Airspan Networks.. check that doggy.. ha ha

oykarumba8
oykarumba8 - Monday December 01, 2008 11:12AM EST

Let us make sure the GOP wont be heard from for at least a generation. The 24% of the Bush supporters seem to make it here though. Good luck retardlicans...Palin 2016...lol

treydur
treydur - Monday December 01, 2008 11:15AM EST

this is literally the worst $25MM investment I have seen since the dotcom implosion. That rag is nothing but a joke machine

Aaron
Aaron - Monday December 01, 2008 11:22AM EST

When are liberals going to understand that people don't give a damn about their ideas? Disgruntled, unempowered Americans have written liberals a blank check to address the short falls of mankind. No one, not even their constituents, wants to know how badly they are damaging our liberties. People only want to believe that liberal solutions will work and that the perpetrators will be paying the bill. No matter how she presents the liberal ideology, you can't put lipstick on a pig. No! I maent her ideas. hahahaahahaahaha

RobertL
RobertL - Monday December 01, 2008 11:24AM EST

25 MIl ?? Pocket change for Soros but a big deal for Ms. Mush Mouth. Still she will have some effect on those who wish to be led around by their nose. The trend is left. Get used to it. React to it. Keep it in check. Fight the good fight and hope common sense can right the nation's ship. 25 mil could be put to much better use.but Mr. Harman has an agenda.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday December 01, 2008 11:44AM EST

people understand money is still out their get on board.

Norman
Norman - Monday December 01, 2008 11:48AM EST

Great News!! I Congrats to A.H. and the Post.

Forrest
Forrest - Monday December 01, 2008 11:54AM EST

Nice!! It's refreshing to see that someone is actually laying blame on both factions of our lustrous congress. Each party has its pros and cons. It doesn't take a brilliant scholar to elucidate this fact. I just pray that Obama has the common sense to see this and appoint the smartest minds from both Republicans and Democrats.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday December 01, 2008 12:09PM EST

Unfortunately if you have any other political leaning other than a rabid Democratic Obama supporter, this blog certainly let you down as a balanced source of media information during your primaries. As a non American who used to visit that blog it became nothing much more than attack after attack against anyone speaking out who was not in full support of Obama that I gave up on the site and stopped visiting it. I certainly hope it returns to somewhat of a more balanced approach but I somehow doubt it will now.

OmahaJoe
OmahaJoe - Monday December 01, 2008 12:17PM EST

Hey,IMWATCHIN! I'm not a Bush fan,too liberal for me! Can't be with the libs. controlling the press, but how bout this? Bush removed a tyrant that murdered his own and threatened the life of an American President. He gave the right to vote and education to millions of women. May have dodged the draft. Ivy League party guy. Expanded the Fed. Govt. with the help of Kennedy and others..... Jet fighter pilot! Governor.. The list goes on.. If he were a Dem. he would be a National Hero! Congrats. IMWATCHIN, your anti: Patriots have the power and believe that punishing success is proper. Remember when the first Bush heavily taxed the yacht makers? Guess what? The yacht makers left the country! Maybe a real patriotic conservative will show up next time we exercise our right to vote. country!

Janet
Janet - Monday December 01, 2008 12:32PM EST

it would be nice of them to invest in a better "censorship" gadget- or better yet, how about not censoring comments at all (unless they're racist or use foul language) A "progressive" paper that censors... that's like saying you're Mussolini fighting against fascism. HP is annoying me A LOT lately!

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday December 01, 2008 12:39PM EST

I adore HuffingtonPost. Of course, I'm "liberal learning." And unfortunately, the truth tends to be seen by Freepers as "liberal learning." Truth is, Arianna's enterprise is worth $100 million.

David W.D
David W.D - Monday December 01, 2008 01:02PM EST

I think that we can safely say that the Huffington Post is the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party.

Ron
Ron - Monday December 01, 2008 01:48PM EST

Good for her and good for the truth. It's time for this country to turn away from the MM and listen to people that have been right about everything for the last eight years.

Howie Felch
Howie Felch - Monday December 01, 2008 02:50PM EST

All the wingnuts are showing their jealously here, Arianna! Congratulations! As for the commenter complaining about huffpo not publishing counter-point comments, well, they certainly do. Many of the most disgusting trolls are able to get their comments up. Maybe yours are just too stupid to publish, not unlike your comment here. Hey, you want to see some real censorship? check out the right wing blogs. You have to be a fully vetted fascist creep to even be allowed to attempt to comment. Any of you wingnuts whining about her "bias" have anything to say about FNS? Newsmax? Drudge? Should they be denied opportunity too, due to THEIR obvious bias?

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday December 01, 2008 04:17PM EST

Two Words: Hatred Sells and this proves it.. (Oh well I guess that was more than 2)

DeadBored
DeadBored - Monday December 01, 2008 04:19PM EST

It all boils down to how truthful the site is with it's reporting. The public will get on their case if they end up becoming what they set out to oppose (becoming the government's mouthpiece like Fox is). The beauty of print publications (online or traditional) is that you actually have to READ it instead of watching someone scream their opinions on television. People form better opinions this way and not feel blindsided.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday December 01, 2008 04:23PM EST

A wingnut calling centrists like myself a wingnut ? I wouldn't be caught dead reading the Huffington Post or the Drudge Report when there are so many better sources of News out there.. So many. In fact, it's simply a wingnut hate side based on all the posts I have seen; which I will not waste time on ever again.

RichardR
RichardR - Monday December 01, 2008 05:01PM EST

Gypsies are known for picking pockets and scamming. A.H. is the best

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