Bits Blog: Arrington Is Out at AOL and TechCrunch

Michael Arrington, the TechCrunch blogger turned venture capitalist, is no longer an employee of AOL.

In a statement Monday, AOL said Mr. Arrington “has decided to move on from TechCrunch and AOL to his newly formed venture fund.”

But TechCrunch immediately cast doubt on how voluntary the move was, placing quotation marks around the word “deciding” in the headline “‘Deciding’ to Move On.”

Mr. Arrington, making a surprise appearance Monday at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, the start-up conference he founded, called it “a sad day for me.”

“It’s no longer a good situation for me to stay at TechCrunch,” he said. He said he would continue to work on the venture fund, CrunchFund.

Erick Schonfeld, who has been co-editor of TechCrunch alongside Mr. Arrington, has been named editor, AOL said. TechCrunch is also hiring new editors.

But some of TechCrunch’s writers and editors are considering leaving AOL and TechCrunch to start a rival blog, according to a person briefed on the developments who was not authorized to speak publicly. It is unclear whether TechCrunch would remain as popular — or be worth as much to AOL — without its current band of writers and editors, including Mr. Arrington, each of whom have strong voices.

Mr. Arrington said at the conference that he was proud of keeping the team together after AOL bought TechCrunch. “Unfortunately, I’m going to be the first one to leave,” he said.

AOL did not address the issue of whether writers might leave, but said in the statement, “The TechCrunch acquisition has been a success for AOL and for our shareholders, and we are very excited about its future.”

Before the announcement, Arianna Huffington, who oversees AOL’s Huffington Post Media Group, which includes TechCrunch, said last week that Mr. Arrington would not be an editor but could be an unpaid blogger for TechCrunch. At the Disrupt conference, Mr. Arrington wore a T-shirt that was printed with “unpaid blogger.”

The announcement came after several days of silence after AOL gave conflicting signals when Mr. Arrington announced last week that he had started the venture capital fund, backed in large part by AOL, that would invest in start-ups like the ones that TechCrunch covers.

At first, AOL said Mr. Arrington would remain at TechCrunch. Then, in response to questions of whether he would have a conflict of interest, it said he would no longer have an editorial role at TechCrunch but would be an employee of AOL Ventures. Now, he is entirely independent from the company.

It is unclear how his departure will affect his financial windfall from AOL. It bought TechCrunch last year for a reported $30 million, and Mr. Arrington was guaranteed part of the payment if he stayed at the blog for three years.

AOL will continue to invest $10 million in the $20 million CrunchFund. “Michael is a world-class entrepreneur and we look forward to supporting his new endeavor through our investment in his venture fund,” the company’s statement said.

At the Disrupt conference, Mr. Arrington tried to refocus the attention on the start-ups that were the subject of the conference.

“There’s a little drama around TechCrunch and me,” he said, adding, “Let’s get this out of the way” so that the audience could focus on the start-ups presenting at the event.

Speaking to the start-up founders in the audience, he said he “may be investing in a couple of you guys some day.”

Article source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/arrington-is-out-at-aol-and-techcrunch/?partner=rss&emc=rss