Even Group Nine — whose CEO is Ben Lerer, the son of Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer — took a pass, according to a source close to the situation.
“This thing loses so much money,” a digital media executive with knowledge of the financials said. “It’s such a mess, I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. I don’t think there’s any way you can make money.”
People briefed on the talks said Verizon, headed by CEO Hans Vestberg, appears to be seeking to offload HuffPost to a buyer willing to take a knife to the site’s high operating expenses — a potentially daunting process that would require going head-to-head with the site’s union and enacting “massive layoffs,” sources said.
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