Haute 100 Los Angeles Update: Arianna Huffington

Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets—Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These people continue to make moves, so rather than waiting for the next Haute 100 issue to come out, we thought we’d provide you with regular updates on those Haute 100 members who are making headlines. Check back daily for more info on the most powerful people in your city. Today, Arianna Huffington makes her digital mark on, and sees the future of, online media.

Arianna Huffington

Category: Entrepreneurs

Company: Huffington Post

Industry: Media

What Made Her Haute: Her news and commentary site is redefining the rules of journalism and has become one of the most frequently linked to and cited media brands on the Internet. It’s also just raised at least $15 million (possibly much more, though) in a round of rare successful funding in 2008.

What Makes Her Haute Now: The Huffington Post is taking on a partnership with Yahoo!’s women’s-based site, Shine. This means that the Huffington Post and Shine will work together and interchangeably produce content, both text and video, for each site. Huffington’s news blog still continues to be considered “the future of media.” As of late 2009, the company’s assets were worth somewhere in-between $100 million and $200 million, proving that the recession has had little impact on the online venture. It’s also been reported that the Huffington Post has maintained a steady 27 percent increase of users each year.