TechCrunch founder starts venture fund
Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, will be stepping down as managing editor of the popular the technology blog. However, he won’t be straying from the technology space
Arrington will be starting a new fund, aptly named CrunchFund, to invest in early-stage start-ups — many of which will undoubtedly continue to be covered on his popular blog. Arrington’s partner in the fund is Patrick Gallagher, who has been a partner at VantagePoint Capital Partners since 2008.
“Mike will run the fund and will continue to write for TechCrunch, but will have no editorial oversight,” said Mario Ruiz, a spokesman for AOL, which bought TechCrunch last year.
Arrington, who has long been well-connected in Silicon Valley, has been an angel investor in the past, but stopped making investments in 2009 after acknowledging a perceived conflict as both publisher and investor. However, in April he announced that he would resume investing in start-ups again.
“Michael Arrington operates from a unique position,” an AOL spokesman said in a statement. “He was an investor in technology companies and start-ups before he started TechCrunch, and his extensive knowledge of, and involvement with Silicon Valley is one of the very things that has made TechCrunch a must-read site.”
Arrington has a pending investment with Airbnb, which TechCrunch disclosed in a recent blog post.
NEWS: Arianna
Huffington, AOL’s president and editor-in-chief, told us earlier that Mr.
Arrington no longer worked for TechCrunch or the AOL media group that she runs.
Mr. Arrington’s status today appears to be a sharp change from yesterday, when
the New York Times reported that Mike Arrington would still be employed by
TechCrunch and would report to Ms. Huffington.
The
statements made by Ms. Huffington and Mr. Ruiz this morning also appear to
contradict statements made by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong yesterday. Last night, when
we asked Mr. Armstrong for clarification on Mr. Arrington’s status at AOL, he
said that Mr. Arrington had a “new role” at the company, one that had
been designed to reduce concerns about conflicts of interest and make him less
of an exception to AOL’s editorial policies.
Then this morning, Arianna Huffington told us Arrington no longer
worked for TechCrunch at all…Asked if Arrington will still get his earnout, Mr.
Ruiz answered: “I have no knowledge
about the rest,” and referred us to Maureen Sullivan, AOL corporate
communications boss.
Tooooooo Funnnny! LOL!!!
Translation for Mr. Shultz, er Riuz:
“I know nothing!”
You mean Arianna speaks out of both (or more) sides of her
mouth?!?! Say it ain’t so!!!
LOLOL!