Overview

Arianna Stasinopoulou Huffington is a Greek-American author; media executive; and political commentator who founded The Huffington Post (now HuffPost) in 2005 and later founded Thrive Global; a wellness technology company. Born in Athens; Greece; she attended Cambridge University and became involved with the conservative movement in the United States through her marriage to Republican politician Michael Huffington; who spent $30 million of his own money on a failed 1994 California Senate race; the most expensive congressional campaign at that time. After their divorce; where it was revealed Michael was bisexual; Arianna shifted dramatically from conservative commentator to progressive activist. She sold The Huffington Post to AOL in 2011 for $315 million; drawing intense criticism from thousands of unpaid bloggers whose free content had built the site's value. A class action lawsuit by bloggers seeking compensation was dismissed. Critics noted that a site built on the labor of unpaid writers enriched its founder by hundreds of millions. She later stepped down as editor-in-chief in 2016 to found Thrive Global. Her early career included a controversial biography of Pablo Picasso and a close relationship with spiritual guru John-Roger; leader of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness; which some former members described as cult-like.

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