Huffington Post on Thursday named a former executive within its corporate ranks, who also does Ironman triathalons, as new chief executive.
Jared Grusd comes from Spotify, where he has been the global head of corporate development and general counsel. He’d been a top strategic and business development official at AOL and was part of the team that bought Huffington Post in 2011.
AOL itself was acquired by Verizon in June for $4.4 billion. The jury will remain out for quite a period on how good a match that proves to be, with much initial speculation that the telecommunications giant didn’t have much strategic longterm interest in Huffington Post.
Arianna Huffington was on vacation in her native Greece — she’s presumably in better financial shape than the nation’s own treasury — but dispatched this memo to staff with her characteristic bonhomie:
HuffPosters,
I’m thrilled to announce that Jared Grusd will be joining HuffPost as our new CEO. Jared brings an incredible range of experience to the role, and the timing couldn’t be better as HuffPost continues to expand around the world and innovate in every way. Jared was at Google with Tim and joined him at AOL to run strategy and business development. He was part of my first discussion with Tim that led to the acquisition of HuffPost, and played an instrumental role in our transition. He now comes to us after four very successful years as Global Head of Corporate Development and General Counsel of Spotify, where he helped transform it from a startup into the world’s leading music streaming company. At the same time, he started and sold a legal tech company, Shake, and has been teaching one of the most popular courses at Columbia Business School, while still managing to run (and swim and bike!) more than a few triathlons and Ironmans. He’s a mentor to NYC entrepreneurs and investors alike, and most important, a devoted father to his three daughters, who are 9, 7, and 3 — recently taking home a fiercely contested “best dance dad” award. I couldn’t be happier that he’s becoming our CEO at another amazing moment in HuffPost’s history.
Please join me in welcoming Jared to the HuffPost family.
Arianna
