Huffpo Makes Room on the Ark for 23/6

23/6, the humor site launched by IAC in 2006 with an assist from the Huffington Post, is getting a reprieve. IAC recently pulled its support for the site in the course of dismantling its programming group, and prospects for continued existence looked dim. Now Huffpo, which until now has treated 23/6 as a sort of familial partner, has agreed to acquire the site and turn it into one of its verticals. (While 23/6 has been heavily promoted on Huffpo and the two occupy adjacent floors of a SoHo office building, a source familiar with the arrangement notes that IAC supplied all the investment.)

Here's the release:

The Huffington Post Has Reached an Agreement to Acquire Comedy News Site 236. 23/6 To Become New HuffPost Comedy Section As Part Of Expanding Verticals Strategy

New York, NY January 13, 2009 - The Huffington Post announced today that comedy news site 236.com has been acquired by The Huffington Post and will be integrated as a new comedy section for the site. The comedy vertical will feature "The Room," 23/6's popular group blog; signature 23/6 features such as "Dickipedia"; user-generated content; aggregated news about the world of comedy; and selections of the funniest material available on the Web.

Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post said: "After a successful first year as a stand-alone comedy site we are excited to bring 23/6 into The Huffington Post as we launch our comedy vertical. We look forward to creating a section that serves not only as a one-stop-shop for humor with a satirical take on the news but a spirited community for all comedy lovers."

Huffington Post chairman Kenneth Lerer, said, "One of the goals of The Huffington Post this coming year is to continue to expand and strengthen our brand. Our verticals strategy has proven to be very successful, and we look forward to continuing to roll out additional content, build our community, and grow our traffic and advertising. 23/6 is a perfect step in that direction."

236.com launched November 2007 as a collaboration between The Huffington Post and IAC. The site quickly grew to establish an audience of more than two million users a month in its first year. While its successful incubation period enabled 23/6 to attract a sizable audience, HuffPost's larger platform of 16 million unique users a month will enable the comedy brand to appeal to an even larger audience in 2009 and beyond.

The comedy vertical will offer an edited selection of the best humor and satire content and provide a platform for fans of comedy to share and discuss humor and news about the world of comedy. The section is the newest vertical for The Huffington Post since its Spring 2007 content expansion. The site currently has the following verticals: politics, media, entertainment, living, style, world, green and the first local version of HuffPost, Chicago.

About The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post is a news and opinion website which in three and a half years has become an influential media brand -- "The Internet Newspaper." The site offers coverage of politics, media, business, entertainment, living, style and green, and is a top destination for news, blogs and original content. The Huffington Post ("HuffPost") has over 16 million unique users each month and is the most-linked-to blog on the Internet, per Technorati. HuffPost has an active community, with over one million comments made on the site each month. The Huffington Post has over 2,000 influential bloggers -- from politicians and celebrities to academics and policy experts -- who contribute in real-time on a wide-range of topics making news today. Among those who have blogged on HuffPost are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Larry David, Nora Ephron, Madeleine Albright, Robert Redford, Neil Young, Rahm Emanuel, Albert Brooks, Mia Farrow, Russ Feingold, Al Franken, Ari Emanuel, Gary Hart, Edward Kennedy, Harry Shearer, John Kerry, Bill Maher, Nancy Pelosi, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ryan Reynolds, Craig Newmark, and Alec Baldwin. A comprehensive list of the contributors to The Huffington Post can be found in its blogger index: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/index/.