Huffington Post UK has lost its founding editor-in-chief, Carla Buzasi, who is returning to the world of fashion in a new global role for data and insight firm WGSN.
Former Marie Claire associate editor Buzasi, who famously tracked down HuffPo founder Arianna Huffington to pitch a UK version of the news site following AOL’s $315m (£184m) acquisition in 2011, is to join Top Right’s WGSN in a newly created role as global chief content officer.
The move is a blow to HuffPo UK, which tried to keep Buzasi’s hankering for life beyond news sated by promoting her to lead global editorial strategy for lifestyle and the Third Metric – the lifestyle and content sector, which is HuffPo’s second biggest category globally and on which Huffington’s latest book, Thrive, is focused.
“Launching the Huffington Post in the UK three years ago was a once-in-a-lifetime role,” said Buzasi. “I have relished every opportunity and challenge along the way. Now it is time for a new chapter and another amazing opportunity.”
Huffington, president of the Huffington Post Media Group who is expected to sign a new deal with AOL when her four-year deal expires next year, said: “I’m very grateful we had Carla for the birth of HuffPost UK. Her dedication and passion helped turn a hungry newborn into a precocious, award-winning three-year-old. As we head into year four, we couldn’t be more excited about the path HuffPost UK is on and all the great things yet to come.”
HuffPo UK, which has grown to 8 million monthly unique users under Buzasi’s stewardship as editor-in-chief, has promoted Stephen Hull, executive editor who leads the news operation, to take over.
In addition, Poorna Bell, responsible for sections including lifestyle, students and the blogs team, will move into the role of executive editor.
WGSN is owned by Top Right, parent of assets including the Cannes Lions festival and Emap, home of magazines including Drapers and Retail Week.
In terms of scale the move to WGSN marks a significant step up for Buzasi, if a slightly surprising one in that the site is a subscription product and not the type of high profile consumer offering in which she has made her career to date.
Buzasi is a former editor of Marie Claire online and deputy editor of Condé Nast’s Glamour.com. She initially joined AOL to launch women’s lifestyle site MyDaily, and was appointed editor of HuffPo UK after AOL’s acquisition of the site.
“The reality is with all the work done on the business over the last couple of years we have really driven a worldwide footprint for WGSN, it is a genuine global product,” said the Top Right chief executive, Duncan Painter. “What we needed was to put in a world-class editor, which demonstrates that the biggest, most attractive roles are not just those in the consumer facing sector.”
Buzasi, who is understood to have been courted by a number of high profile media owners before taking the WGSN role, currently manages a team of about 45 at HuffPo.
At WGSN, which has global revenues of about £70m and a user base of 80,000, she will be responsible for about 400.
WGSN, part of Top Right’s information services division, significantly bolstered its presence in North America and Asia with the acquisition of Stylesight, the trend and fashion forecasting firm which has revenues of about $38m, in November last year.
“Carla has clearly done an excellent job at Huffington Post and I am delighted she will now bring her leadership skills and considerable content expertise to our business,” said the WGSN Trend global managing director, Steve Newbold. “Carla’s digital expertise, editorial vision and industry profile will add a further dimension to our global operations.”
Top Right, which is 32.9% owned by Guardian Media Group, parent company of the Guardian, made £271m in revenues last year.
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