AOL: You've Got TechCrunch

TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington—who just sold the tech blog to AOL—manages to be one of the most reviled, admired, and influential people in digital media.

Arrington, 40, a former entrepreneur and Stanford-trained lawyer, created TechCrunch in 2005, covering the world of Web 2.0 companies that focused on trends such as community, user-generated content, and dynamic websites that could be updated without reloading the page. He built a huge audience by working 16 hours a day. seven days a week, and by 2008, Time magazine named him one of the most influential people in the world. He sold the company to AOL for an undisclosed amount. AOL shares rose 2.9 percent on the news.

The deal came together quickly amid news reports of the talks. "This wasn't supposed to happen today—this was supposed to happen later. So we had to rush through this." Arrington said during the company's Disrupt conference, where it was announced.

But, he said, the acquisition would not mean changes to the site.

"That's the cool part about this," Arrington said. "They want to keep TechCrunch TechCrunch."

Earlier on Tuesday, word leaked out from rival blogger Om Malik that Arrington might sell the company, which now includes a handful of related sites that cover topics such as tech jobs and gadgets, to AOL, which is remaking itself as a content company under the direction of Google veteran Tim Armstrong. AOL, which made its name years ago by providing Internet access, email, and instant messaging, merged with Time Warner in a famous deal that went bad. Since being spun off from Time Warner, it tried aggregation, which failed to generate a sufficient audience. Now it is focusing on creating original content. Armstrong said Tuesday that AOL has had its eye on TechCrunch "for a while."

AOL, in another move aimed at boosting its content, also announced Tuesday that it is buying online video-syndication service 5min Media for an undisclosed sum, expanding AOL’s reach in that area as well. The Washington Business Journal reports: "Privately-held 5min Media has a library of 200,000 tagged, categorized, and rated videos from more than 1,000 media companies and independent video producers."

By acquiring TechCrunch, AOL gets a lot of influential content, and the outspoken and controversial Arrington. Last May, he annoyed Carol Bartz, the new CEO of Yahoo, by suggesting that she wasn't moving fast enough to change the company. She responded by telling him to "f--- off."

On Tuesday, onetime business partner Jason Calacanis—who created Weblogs Inc., now a part of AOL—took Arrington to task on his Twitter feed. He denounced Arrington as a "train wreck" and a "sociopath." At one time, they worked together on a project called TechCrunch 50, although Calacanis alleges that Arrington cheated him and dissolved the partnership so the proceeds of a business sale would not have to be split.

Calacanis wrote:

• "Aol is making big mistake if they buy @techcrunch. They cant keep a liability like @arrington around as public company+w/o mike it's nothing."
• And if @arrington does sell I'm happy for him. He lives an unhealthy lifestyle, doesn't sleep, and abuses (CEO) heather--he's a trainwreck
• Mike wanted to kill tc50, screw me and flip. We didn't have mutual noncompete. about 13 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® in reply to entrepreneur
• I'm fairly certain that mike screwed me so he wouldn't have to split the sale of techcrunch50--but he is insane, so who knows!
• @Justyn asks if @Arrington & I are still friends. The question is moot, a sociopath like Mike isn't capable of friendship-except w/ dogs

The thread includes a debate over the value of TechCrunch. Calacanis says that the site had revenue of about $6 million and profits of about $1.5 million last year, meaning that it is worth $15 million to $25 million. But Henry Blodget, the founder of Business Insider, says it could be worth $40 million, which is reportedly what Arrington wants.

Blodget says:

@hblodget last year was $1.5on$6m, if now $2.5 on $9m it would go for $35-40m/15x. @TechCrunch is close to max rev. it's not a big vision.

Apparently, it's a big enough vision for AOL.

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Steve Rosenbush is the blogs/industry editor for Portfolio.com.