Posts Tagged ‘David Eun’

The acquisition of The Huffington Post by Aol earlier this month claimed its first major executive casualty, as Aol Media president David Eun announced that he will leave the company when the transaction closes, as Arianna Huffington, who was named president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, will take over Eun’s responsibilities.

Sources told AdAge Aol CEO Tim Armstrong offered Eun a position in the company’s video unit, but he declined.

Aol also announced that Aol Ventures president Jon Brod is leading the integration of Aol and HuffPost, and he will be named chief operating officer of Huffington Post Media Group once the deal is final, reporting to Huffington.

The emails to Aol staff from Eun (via TechCrunch) and Armstrong (via AdAge) follow after the jump.

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A news announcement at midnight on Super Bowl Sunday had better be something big if it expects to attract any kind of attention, and in the media world, this one was huge (and shocking): Aol announced that it will acquire The Huffington Post, and that HuffPost co-founder and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington will assume the post of president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, encompassing all HuffPost and Aol content including Engadget, TechCrunch, Moviefone, MapQuest, Black Voices, PopEater, AOL Music, AOL Latino, AutoBlog, Patch, and StyleList.

The transaction is valued at $315 million, with approximately $300 million to be paid in cash funded from cash on hand, and it is expected to close in the late first quarter or early second quarter of this year.

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Aol is taking aim at women, reaching an agreement with Endemol USA to co-develop and co-produce Web programming, specifically premium, nonscripted fare.

The first two projects, set on a built-if-sold basis, will be Re-Dressed by America, an interactive Web series in which online users make over subjects prior to events such as high school reunions or first dates by voting on hairstyles, fashion, accessories, and other components; and Mamá’s Recipe, a competition for the best family recipe.

Re-Dressed by America is targeted for StyleList.com and MyDaily, while Mamá’s Recipe will be on the menu at KitchenDaily and Aol Latino.

Series created as a result of the partnership will be promoted on relevant sites across the Aol network, and all series will include enhanced online programming such as user voting, video clips, blog content, and opportunities for sponsors to integrate their messaging.

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Former ABCNews.com vice president Jonathan Dube joined Aol as senior VP and general manager of Aol News & Information, where he will oversee the Internet giant’s Aol News, Aol Tech, Aol Finance, and Aol Sports groups.

Dube accepted a buyout when ABC News implemented a reorganization in June. Prior to ABCNews.com, he served as senior digital media executive for Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s news division and managing producer at msnbc.com.

Dube told paidContent he chose Aol because CEO Tim Armstrong‘s vision “is right in line with my personal passions” of transforming media through technology, adding, “I’ve been incredibly impressed by Tim’s vision for Aol and by his and (Aol Media & Studios president) David Eun‘s commitment to building the media network of the future. I’ve also met with a lot of people at Aol — executives and journalists — and been blown away with the quality of people they have been hiring. I can honestly say in my career I’ve never encountered an organization with such an amazing combination of both digital talent and journalism talent.”

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Townsquare Media, which owns and operates digital properties and radio stations in local markets, tapped former AOL Media president Bill Wilson for the newly created position of executive vice president and chief digital officer, paidContent reported.

Wilson left AOL in May after current AOL Media and Studios president David Eun was chosen to head content at AOL by chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong, according to paidContent.

Wilson will be tasked with driving revenue for Townsquare’s digital operations.

The rumors have now been officially confirmed by AOL chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong: AOL is the proud new owner of TechCrunch and its network of technology-centric Web sites.

TechCrunch will become part of the AOL Technology Network, but it will retain its editorial independence, according to Armstrong’s press release. The official announcement will be made on stage at TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF conference in San Francisco.

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AOL named former NBC Universal senior vice president of emerging digital businesses Chris Grosso to the newly created post of general manager of the homepage.

Grosso will be responsible for managing the rotation of content on the homepage, reporting to AOL Media and Studios president David Eun.

At NBCU, he launched and oversaw NBC Digital Networks, which encompasses entities including iVillage. Prior to NBCU, Grosso spent nine years with McKinsey and Co.

Last night, The Hollywood Reporter held its annual Digital Power 50 event at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. In addition to honoring 50 power players from new and traditional media, David Eun, president of AOL media and studios, sat down for a discussion with Andrew Wallenstein, THR’s editor of digital media.

Eun says that the new, content-centric Aol (he calls the company a “startaround”) produces 80% of its content in-house… but it is in the market for content partners.

“Aol has to double down on partnerships,” Eun said. “We do produce 80% of our content in-house, but we don’t assume that all the good experiences and all the good content can be produced in one place, and it is around this room [referring to the media executives attending the event].”

Eun also said that newspapers, many of which are fighting for their existence in the light of declining ad revenue, are perfect examples of traditional media companies Aol is looking to reach out to.

“We want to partner with newspapers,” Eun said.

The Aol exec recalled his first meeting with Aol CEO Tim Armstrong, who he worked with at Google. Armstrong was tasked with finding a way to turn around the media giant’s fortunes.

“The vision that he laid out for me about AOL was super compelling,” Eun recalled. “He said ‘we need to turn around AOL, and I want to make content the pivot point.’”

And while much of that content is produced in-house by blogs like Engadget and Daily Finance, he says one of the biggest opportunies for growth will come from those content partnerships.

“The scale of what Aol is, while still a shadow of its former self, is still pretty significant,” Eun said. “From the perspective of a company that interacts with lots of consumers, there are interesting ways that we can partner with different content producers, different people that provide products and services, to create a deeper, engaging experience for folks that want to engage with us.”