2011《財(cái)富》最愚蠢商業(yè)事件大盤點(diǎn)（下）
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TechCrunch、美國(guó)在線短暫聯(lián)姻鬧劇收?qǐng)?/strong> ????當(dāng)初科技博客TechCrunch創(chuàng)始人邁克爾?阿靈頓將網(wǎng)站出售給美國(guó)在線公司（AOL）時(shí)，業(yè)界就沒(méi)人指望這段“姻緣”能有個(gè)美滿的結(jié)局。果不其然，恰好在一年之后，這筆當(dāng)時(shí)震撼業(yè)界的交易就觸礁了。 ????阿靈頓宣布，他打算推出一個(gè)名為Crunchfund的風(fēng)投基金，它價(jià)值2,000萬(wàn)美元。《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》（New York Times）發(fā)表評(píng)論稱，這是一個(gè)“荒唐可笑的越界行為”。阿靈頓同時(shí)運(yùn)行著最舉足輕重的創(chuàng)業(yè)新聞網(wǎng)站和一只以初創(chuàng)企業(yè)為投資對(duì)象的基金，這給整個(gè)業(yè)界敲響了警鐘。 ????盡管美國(guó)在線公司CEO蒂姆?阿姆斯特朗批準(zhǔn)了這項(xiàng)安排（他稱TechCrunch是一個(gè)具有“不同標(biāo)準(zhǔn)”的網(wǎng)站），但該公司評(píng)論部主管阿里安娜?赫芬頓卻并不買賬，她說(shuō)阿靈頓并不是美國(guó)在線公司評(píng)論部的一員。她建議，如果他想繼續(xù)寫的話，他可以做一位無(wú)償寫作的博客。 ????赫芬頓的挑戰(zhàn)引發(fā)了一個(gè)長(zhǎng)達(dá)一周的鬧?。喊㈧`頓最初試圖保住他作為TechCrunch主編的身份，隨后又提議從美國(guó)在線公司回購(gòu)TechCrunch，但他最終以辭職收?qǐng)?。阿靈頓的離去導(dǎo)致TechCrunch網(wǎng)站一批最有名的作者紛紛出走，美國(guó)在線公司贏得了一場(chǎng)代價(jià)慘痛的勝利。——史黛西?考莉 |
L'affair Arrington ????When TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington shocked the industry by selling his site to AOL, no one expected the matchup to end well. Exactly one year later, it imploded. ????In a move that the New York Times called "almost comically over the line," Arrington announced plans to launch a $20 million venture capital fund called Crunchfund. The idea of Arrington running both the most influential news site covering startups and a fund investing in those same startups set off alarm bells. ????While AOL CEO Tim Armstrong approved the arrangement (he called TechCrunch a site with "different standards"), AOL editorial head Arianna Huffington kiboshed it, proclaiming that Arrington was off AOL's editorial payroll. If he wanted to keep writing, he could do so as an unpaid blogger, she suggested. ????Huffington's gauntlet throw sparked a weeklong soap opera as Arrington first tried to preserve his TechCrunch editorship, then offered to buy TechCrunch back from AOL, and finally resigned. His departure sparked an exodus of TechCrunch's best-known writers, leaving AOL with a Pyrrhic victory.-- Stacy Cowley |
