AOL AMERICA'S ONLINE LUNACY



When AOL and The Huffington Post teamed up last month it sparked controversy that is now spilling over into the investment world.

AOL stock is being shorted by investors betting that the company will tank. Not far from its all time low of $18.51 on March 16th, it may only be a matter of time before it, like MySpace, begins to drift towards the Bermuda Triangle.
Further complicated by a class action suit instituted by one of Huffington Post's contributors, the complaint charges that none of the $315 million paid by AOL for the news and opinion website co-founded by Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer was shared with the writers and other creators of the site’s content. The suit seeks class-action, or group, status.

The complaint claims that 9000 writers provided the site with free content worth as much as $105 million, which “should be returned” to the plaintiff and the class. Huffington Post derives revenue from advertising on the site.
Adding insult to injury, the majority of the contributors who supported Arianna's site as a more liberal platform are now taking a back seat to the more conservative AOL.

Did AOL not believe that a site whose content, driven by 9000 freelance, unpaid writers, would not create a backlash? It is so very obvious that AOL's CEO and largest shareholder, Tim Armstrong, is desperately rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.

Watching and waiting.


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