Michael Arrington

J. Michael Arrington

Arrington at the World Economic Forum
Born Jack Michael Arrington[1]
(1970-03-13) March 13, 1970[1]
Orange, California
Nationality American
Occupation Blogger, entrepreneur
Website TechCrunch, uncrunched.com

J. Michael Arrington (born March 13, 1970) is the American founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch, a blog covering the Silicon Valley technology start-up communities and the wider technology field in USA and elsewhere. Magazines such as Wired and Forbes have named Arrington one of the most powerful people on the Internet.[2][3] In 2008, he was selected by TIME Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world.[4]

Biography

Born in Huntington Beach, California, Arrington grew up in Huntington Beach, California and Surrey, England, attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a major in economics. He went on to Stanford Law School and graduated in 1995. He practiced corporate and securities law at O’Melveny & Myers, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.[5]

Arrington left the practice of law to join Real Names, which failed after raising $100M.[3] Arrington was co-founder of Achex, an internet payments company, which was sold to First Data Corp for US$32 million and is now the back end of Western Union online. "I made enough to buy a Porsche. Not much more," he said in 2007.[3]

His other entrepreneurial endeavors include co-founding Zip.ca and Pool.com, acting as chief operating officer for Razorgator, and founding Edgeio. He was also more recently on the board of directors for the startup Foldera, which was designing a software as a service organizational tool.

He identifies as a libertarian, saying, "I just see government as this thing that stops us from doing things."[6]

Michael Arrington with Chamillionaire

In 2013 he was accused of physical abuse by an ex-girlfriend,[7] but the suit was dropped in court the following year.[8]

TechCrunch

Arrington rose to internet prominence with his Silicon Valley blog, TechCrunch. TechCrunch covers internet startups and news. In early September 2011, Arrington was reported to be no longer employed by TechCrunch but associated with a new investment company, AOL Ventures.[9] Within days, it was being reported that he was no longer associated with AOL Ventures.[10]

In October 2012, Arrington returned to writing for the Tech Crunch blog.[11]

CrunchFund

In 2011, Arrington founded a venture capital firm called CrunchFund along with M.G. Siegler and Patrick Gallagher.[12] In 2014, CrunchFund invested in BlueFly, an online retailer, which was bought, in May 2013, by affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group for USD$13 million.[13] As a result of CrunchFund's investment, former BlueFly CEO Melissa Payner returned to BlueFly.[14]

CrunchPad

In July 2008, Arrington started a project called the Crunchpad, over a year before the iPad was released. The Crunchpad was meant to be an affordable tablet computer that catered to a niche between desktop computers and laptops. However, disputes arose between Arrington and the developers he had chosen for the Crunchpad. The developers broke off from Arrington and released the device on their own but it received few sales,[15] and the developers later went bankrupt.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 California Births, 1905–1995, Jack M. Arrington
  2. ↑ Ewalt, David M. "In Pictures: The Web Celeb 25". Forbes. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Fred Vogelstein (June 22, 2007). "TechCrunch Blogger Michael Arrington Can Generate Buzz ... and Cash". Wired. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  4. ↑ Huffington, Arianna (12 May 2008). "The 2008 TIME 100: Michael Arrington". Time (magazine). Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  5. ↑ CrunchBase Profile
  6. ↑ DePillis, Lydia (2013-05-06). "Mark Zuckerberg's Cynical, Necessary Washington Strategy". The New Republic. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  7. ↑ chen, adrian (2013-01-04). "TechCrunch Founder's Ex-Girlfriend Claims He Physically Abused Her". Gawker Media. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  8. ↑ Wingfield, Nick (2014-06-27). "Michael Arrington Drops Suit After Rape Accuser Recants". New York Times. Retrieved 2016-07-27.
  9. ↑ Henry Blodget (2011-09-02). "ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: Mike Arrington Is Out At TechCrunch". Business Insider. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
  10. ↑ CNNMoney, "Arrington out at AOL (For real this time)" by Dan Primack, September 7, 2011
  11. ↑ Jay Kirscht (October 23, 2012). "Arrington (Also MG) Returns". Tech Crunch.
  12. ↑ "CrunchFund on CrunchBase".
  13. ↑ Karr, Arnold J. (12 February 2014). "Bluefly Gets CrunchFund Investment". WWD. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  14. ↑ Arnold J. Karr and Rachel Brown (13 February 2014). "Melissa Payner Rejoins Bluefly as CrunchFund Invests". WWD. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  15. ↑ "JooJoo tablet gets just 90 pre-orders". Electronista (MNM Media, LLC). 2010-03-30. Archived from the original on 2010-04-02. Retrieved 2010-04-02. PayPal documents discovered today as part of the ongoing TechCrunch lawsuit against Fusion Garage have revealed that just 90 pre-orders were submitted before the JooJoo tablet began shipping last week. ... The actual honored pre-orders were even lower as 15 of the orders were cancelled and refunded, although this didn't include pre-orders for the last few weeks before the March 25th ship date.
  16. ↑ "Fusion Garage sinks into liquidation, owes creditors some $40 million". Engadget. 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
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