∞ Arrington fired from TechCrunch

Written by

Fortune:

Arrington mostly stayed out of the public fray until yesterday when he demanded that TechCrunch either be given full editorial independence or sold back to Arrington and other legacy shareholders (AOL had purchased the site last year). But AOL is not giving TechCrunch its editorial independence. And it is not selling it back to Arrington. Instead, Fortune has learned that AOL executives have decided to terminate Arrington.

I bet he didn’t expect that — or maybe he did.



  • http://twitter.com/sashachh Sasha Chh

    Please remember to link to the original source

  • http://twitter.com/sashachh Sasha Chh

    Please remember to link to the original source

  • http://twitter.com/sashachh Sasha Chh

    Please remember to link to the original source

  • http://twitter.com/sashachh Sasha Chh

    Please remember to link to the original source

  • http://www.loopinsight.com Jim Dalrymple

    I ALWAYS link to the original source. Click the headline.

    • Tom von Schwerdtner

      That took me a while to discover.  A “read more” link might help some people out.

  • http://www.loopinsight.com Jim Dalrymple

    I ALWAYS link to the original source. Click the headline.

  • http://twitter.com/LowTechAbuse Peter Gowen

    I keep forgetting about the title being a link to the original source, as well. My bad. Still…

    A lot of other people use titles as links, too. But to take Gruber’s case, for instance, his title-links abut the main text. Contrast that with your titles being separated by the posted Date, original Poster’s name, and some whitespace. It throws me off. It’s not bad, but a clearer visual cue would help. Please forgive rampant internet criticism.

    • http://www.loopinsight.com Jim Dalrymple

      Hey Peter, I’m working on ways to make that more clear on link posts like this.

      • http://twitter.com/LowTechAbuse Peter Gowen

        Awesome. thumbsup Love the redesign so far.

      • Steven Fisher

        When last I checked (which wasn’t today), the link wasn’t accessible at all on the iPhone/iPad. (Well, without turning the mobile theme off.)

      • http://robmandu.tumblr.com robmandu

        From an RSS perspective – and since we’re comparing to Gruber’s DaringFireball.net – the title text in DF’s RSS feed takes you to the original article. Gruber throws a little star at the bottom as the permalink to his Linked List post if you want to read it in his purple hues.

        However, The Loop’s RSS feed title text brings you to The Loop’s article. Clicking on the title again then takes you to the original article. 

        I’m not suggesting slavishly copying Gruber’s design to the nth degree. But since it was an acknowledged inspiration for The Loop’s redesign, I can see where those of us who visit both can be easily confused. 

        I do suggest considering the RSS feed interaction as well when making further changes The Loop’s own page interaction.

        Cheers from a big fan!

      • Anonymous

        How about just using Source at the bottom of the posting to link to the actual source. It’s a visual clue that is used by many sites very effectively. Or the same “Via” that you use on some entries. 

        And then you also avoid the annoyance that when reading the home page listing of entries there’s no clear ‘read more’ or ‘comments’ link, how is anyone supposed  to know to click the date box which is rather unintuitive. Please except that the title of the article also leads to your article with more information or at least comments because that’s how 99% of blog style sites do it.

  • http://twitter.com/thegraphicmac Jim Dempsey

    I’m sure he expected it. And let’s be honest, the $3 million (I think that was the purchase price AOL gave him) makes it a little easier to swallow.

    AOL is about the only tech company I think is actually dumber than Yahoo. I’m willing to bet a few of the more popular writers at TechCrunch will jump ship to wherever MA lands.

  • Anonymous

    This is totally awesome news. Arrington got what he deserved and had no right to make the demands that he did.

    • http://thesoapvox.com ElVox

      Actually, he did have the right to make the demands he did…the editorial independence thing was part of the original purchase agreement, as far as my memory goes…so…he actually had the right. On the other hand, I’m sure he’s happy…IIRC, it was said last year that if he got fired he got all his vested money in a single payment…pretty good deal, I believe

      • Steven Fisher

        Somewhere, Aol knows how much they had to pay Arrington to be rid of him forever. Call this A.

        You can bet that they’ve just been quietly adding to the “It’s worth this much to be rid of him,” since he first started acting like a douche (which was probably before the final paperwork was even finished). Call this B.

        At this point, B is greater than A. It’s a testament to how much they’ll need to pay that it’s taken him this long to douche his way to this point.

        So, a good deal for him. He got way more than he deserved. Which was, honestly, a swift and hard kick in the nuts followed by a mugging.

        • http://thesoapvox.com ElVox

          He was a DB way before AOL bought TC…that’s why he got bought, he had the pageviews :) And those came from him being a knowledgeable DB.

          And yes..I’m betting there’s more money in his bank account right now than after he signed the deal with AOL.

        • http://thesoapvox.com ElVox

          He was a DB way before AOL bought TC…that’s why he got bought, he had the pageviews :) And those came from him being a knowledgeable DB.

          And yes..I’m betting there’s more money in his bank account right now than after he signed the deal with AOL.

      • Anonymous

        If it was in the original agreement, unless there was a clause that it would be delayed X time, AOL took a huge PR risk with this firing. He might even be able to argue legally that he was wrongly fired for trying to enforce the contract AOL wasn’t honoring. 

        Then again, they could have said “you’re right,we promised this. Effective October 1, 2011, Techcrunch will be editorially independent. But you won’t be the editor.”

        • http://thesoapvox.com ElVox

          IIRC (and my memory sucks :) when the sell was done it had a clause that would delay the payments through 3 or 5 years, unless he got fired without cause (there was a clause with a list of “cause” and taking potshots at AOL or AOL-owned companies or people wasn’t on the list), in which case he’d get all the money plus a severance package, which probably is big, because it’s been a while since AOL has wanted to fire him (acordingto rumors) and hadn’t reached the proper balance between what-they-had-to-pay-for-firing-him and what-it-cost-them-to-keep-him, until now.

          All of this is conjecture on my part, nothing I know, just infered from what little info I remember from when TC was sold and all he times Arrington has been this-close-to-fired before :)

  • His Shadow

    Could not have happened to a nicer douchebag.

  • Steven Fisher

    One wonders where TechCrunch’s story on this is.

  • Steven Fisher

    One wonders where TechCrunch’s story on this is.

  • Anonymous

    Huffington will be the death of TechCrunch. 

    • http://grayhawkfh.livejournal.com/ Frank “Grayhawk” Huminski

      We should be so lucky

  • Anonymous

    Huffington will be the death of TechCrunch. 

  • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

    Shocking.

  • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

    Shocking.

  • Jason Painter

    Unfortunately, some a-hole will probably re-employ him because they can’t see the truth that he’s psychotic.

  • Jason Painter

    Unfortunately, some a-hole will probably re-employ him because they can’t see the truth that he’s psychotic.

  • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

    Arrington needs to disappear from the tech business. Plain and simple. But like others I get the feeling that he played AOL, which doesn’t seem to be that hard to be honest.

    Anyway, I hope he dies in a huge NMD bonfire.

    • http://grayhawkfh.livejournal.com/ Frank “Grayhawk” Huminski

      Ooooo…can we rub Enderle and Scoble together to start the fire?

      • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

        Wouldn’t work. Too greasy.

        • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

          Not necessarily. If you get them hot enough, the oils might ignite.

          • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

            You just put me off my lunch. 

            Can I call you the next time I’m in the mood for pastrami?

          • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

            Sure, send me your number via DM :P

  • His Shadow

    Has anyone gone back to that link to read the latest comments? Apparently CNN stories attract the most batshit right wingers Disqus has to offer…