Arianna Huffington Grabs More Control of AOL

Arianna Huffington is grabbing more reigns at AOL, a year after her web news brand merged with the internet company in a $315 million acquisition.

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As part of a rebranding effort, the media mogul and co-founder of The Huffington Post will take control of business efforts that previously fell within the realm of AOL, including technology, business development, marketing and communications but not ad sales, The New York Times reported.

The goal is to “maintain the innovative spirit of a start-up" at the HuffPo, she said, while allowing her site to speed up the new additions of edtiorial products and categories. Huffington's title is editor-in-chief and president of the Huffington Post Media Group; she reports to AOL's CEO Tim Armstrong, whose contract was just renewed through 2016 and who approved the expansion of her role along with a committee of AOL execs.

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Huffington told the Times that there were no plans to make the once-scrappy start-up HuffPo independent of AOL.

“AOL has been great for The Huffington Post," she declared. "We could not have possibly had the growth we’ve had without the help of AOL.”

Part of that growth has been global, with the launch of sites in Canada, Britain and France in addition to two extra editions slated for Spain and Italy. Meanwhile, total site visitors to AOL has declined in the past year -- but there has been an upswing of visitors to Huffington Post Media Group's properties.