HuffPo’s only major profit came during year it was bought: report

The Huffington Post, a money-loser for most of its 12 years, continues to ooze red ink for new owner Verizon, according to a new report.

William Cohan, in a story posted on the Vanity Fair website on Thursday, said the only year HuffPo made any significant profit was in 2011 — the year it persuaded Tim Armstrong’s AOL to buy it.

Since then, it’s been all losses, Cohan reported.

In 2010, in the lead-up to the AOL deal, the Huffington Post was basically little better than a break-even operation — with revenue of $31 million and a profit of less than $1 million, according to VF.com.

One year later it earned more than $1 million profit and, with the prospect of ever-rising revenue and profit, saw AOL agree to buy it for $315 million.

Arianna Huffington netted a $21 million payout.

But the increasing revenue and profit never materialized, Cohan writes.

“In fact, the very year Huffington cut the deal with Armstrong — 2011 — turned out to be the publication’s only substantially profitable year,” states Cohan.

He quotes one former top editor who said: “Just in case I get hit by a bus today, let me state this for the informal record: In my last year there, we made about $110 million in revenue, give or take, and we weren’t profitable.”

Cohan did not say when the editor left. The article claims that as losses mounted, Huffington’s relationship with Armstrong became increasingly strained and that she was further marginalized when AOL was sold to Verizon a year ago.

Huffington, in an email to Vanity Fair, said, “I can’t and won’t waste my time shadow boxing with these accusations.”

An AOL spokeswoman said the company does not disclose revenue and profitability (or lack thereof) for HuffPo.