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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

madmilker
madmilker - Monday December 01, 2008 09:36AM EST

Arianna knows how the cow eats the cabbage!

__A_YAHOO_USER__
__A_YAHOO_USER__ - Monday December 01, 2008 09:53AM EST

It is a cash cow venture......run.......

Bob
Bob - Monday December 01, 2008 09:57AM EST

what a joke. her & PBS, getting funds. they should all be in jail

Elmer
Elmer - Monday December 01, 2008 10:05AM EST

Oh Good the propaganda machine grows larger, getting close to Germany in the 30’s. Beware!!

James
James - Monday December 01, 2008 10:14AM EST

I wonder how well it will do now that the elections are over... Obviously that was a huge draw for a time. I'd guess that traffic is down considerably, as well with the cable news stations.

Richard
Richard - Monday December 01, 2008 10:16AM EST

his is a Travesty to to the political system. The peter principle is at work. We are letting our political system fall into the hands of the bloggers. She cannot talk and she has been in this country for over 30 years.

Dave
Dave - Monday December 01, 2008 10:17AM EST

"liberal leaning" : p There you go again Kara, giving Liberals a bad name...

RichardR
RichardR - Monday December 01, 2008 10:20AM EST

Huffington is the laughing stock of all media. Those gypsies do know how to pick your pockets, though.

Dan
Dan - Monday December 01, 2008 10:22AM EST

liberal garbage!!

RS
RS - Monday December 01, 2008 10:23AM EST

Might as well have thrown that money up a wild boars @ss.

RS
RS - Monday December 01, 2008 10:25AM EST

Might as well have thrown that money up a wild boars @ss.

Tribe Fan
Tribe Fan - Monday December 01, 2008 10:32AM EST

The Huffington Post is extreme liberal leaning. The words "liberal leaning" water down reality.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday December 01, 2008 10:36AM EST

How SCARRY. This blog is soo biased. They claim to be "Fair" and a place for "Truth" & free thinkers... But if you try to post a blog comment that is the opposite of THEIR views...they will never publish it. The best way to silence free speech is to buy the biggest blog, I guess.

paul
paul - Monday December 01, 2008 10:42AM EST

AH opened her site after her beloved elephant lay rotting and stinking. Congrats on the fundraising results, keep on providing alternative thought in the media.

IMWATCHIN
IMWATCHIN - Monday December 01, 2008 10:47AM EST

What is all this talk about a 'propaganda machine' ? We are in the midst of getting rid of one of the worst in history, or were you sleeping over the past 8 disasterous years?

Derrick D
Derrick D - Monday December 01, 2008 10:49AM EST

Yeah because conservatives don't have anyone spewing propaganda do they? Oh wait, I forgot about Hannity and Limbaugh. Give me a break. I love the hyprocrisy of conservatives....

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday December 01, 2008 10:49AM EST

If you rearrange the letters in Huffington Post you can spell "Pontiffs Nought" or "Puffing Hot Snot" ha ha

Whit Chambers
Whit Chambers - Monday December 01, 2008 10:51AM EST

If you put lipstick on a pig, she will still eat like a pig and poop crap.

Yahoo! Finance User
Yahoo! Finance User - Monday December 01, 2008 11:00AM EST

Great! More money and people to continue weaving fact with fiction. Huffington believes entertainment = news and fact = fiction. It's all the same to her and if something isn't true, she'll make it so.

Mike
Mike - Monday December 01, 2008 11:04AM EST

Whoever did the valuation on this one should be sent back to Wharton. $100 Million? They will be left wanting on this one----the 1990's are behind us-----Call the Pukster Paulson for verification---he will clarify the situation!

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