As we reported earlier, Eric Hippeau is switching roles at the Huffington Post from board member to CEO. He’ll still be on the board but as the person responsible for day-to-day operations, not the adviser, for the first time since he left as chairman and CEO of Ziff-Davis in 2000. Hippeau isn’t completely leaving the VC world: he stays on at SoftBank as special partner, representing the company on three portfolio boards. (Separately, we understand that SoftBank is on the verge of deciding whether or not to raise a new U.S. fund.)
Why Hippeau? HuffPo Cofounder Ken Lerer told me he first met Hippeau four years ago and, within 15 minutes of explaining the concept, had a handshake deal for Softbank to invest. No, Hippeau doesn’t have general news experience but “he gets journalism completely,” Lerer said. “As we were going through our thinking as a board, it became apparent that we had the best possible new CEO right here.” Why change now? Referring to the economy, Lerer explained: “Sometimes things happen where you can really build a company aggressively. … This is the time the Huffington Post needs to get to the next level. It
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