In Media Res: HuffPo goes north; big hire at Bloomberg.com

Joe Pompeo
·Media Reporter

Finance frenzy

: In the wake of this year's mega-merger with Huffington Post, AOL took a hatchet to dozens of editorial properties. But the net company--which, let it be disclosed, is a direct competitor with Yahoo!-- held on to its Daily Finance vertical. The inveetment site kept a steady stream of traffic--and while the HuffPo merger did create some shakeups among its workforce, AOL is now retooling and expanding the property, adding eight new full-time staffers to its roster. "We are unleashing fresh voices with unique points of view to help our readers make intelligent decisions about what to do with their dollars," said Peter Goodman, executive business editor of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group, in a statement. "Our audience can look forward to an irreverent, unpredictable and engaging take on personal finance."

How will Daily Finance differ from its sister business coverage over at HuffPo? "The two sites are complementary but distinct," said Mario Ruiz, a spokesman for the company. "HuffPost Business is a lens on business and finance that tracks the news and makes explicit the connections between the corporate realm and the world of ordinary people. ... DailyFinance is a place where people go to gain insight into how to wisely manage their money." HuffPo, it's worth noting, just lost Ryan McCarthy, the editor credited with building up its business page over the past few years, to Reuters. There was a going-away party for him last night.

Oh, Canada!: In other HuffPo news, the online juggernaut has launched a Canadian edition, which debuted today as the site's first international offering. Here's the announcement from Arianna: "Canadians are no strangers to The Huffington Post: 1.5 million of them visited us in March. So starting our international expansion north of the border was a natural. I can't wait to watch our talented HuffPost Canada edit team bring our real-time 'digital water cooler' to Canadians -- and Americans looking to get some insight into our neighbours to the north." And here she is partying Maple Leaf-style to celebrate the launch. Next stop: HuffPo U.K.

Big hire at Bloomberg: Bloomberg.com just got a big makeover on Wednesday. Now it also has a big new editor: the Pulitzer-winning business journalist Jared Sandberg, who has left the Wall Street Journal after 20 years to take a job as online chief at the financial news giant. "Jared has great journalistic skills and a passion for the web," said Josh Tyrangiel, editor of both Bloomberg Digital and Bloomberg Businessweek, in a statement. "His ability to blend those things makes him the ideal person to lead Bloomberg.com." Bloomberg's rivals over at Reuters, which is in the midst of its own digital expansion, already appear to be shaking in their boots. "That's it. We're dead. I quit," editor Robert MacMillan tweeted in response to The Cutline's reporting of Sandberg's hire on Twitter. "I mean.... cool!"

Couric's getting close: And about that deal Katie Couric is reportedly negotiating with ABC? She is THISCLOSE! Of course, that's what nearly everyone on the never-ending Katie Couric beat has been reporting for weeks, except now Howard Kurtz has some new details about the behind-the-scenes talks: "Couric is close to signing with ABC, and while the final negotiating points haven't been resolved, an announcement is likely in early June. The only other contender at this point is CBS Corp., which has formally withdrawn its offer but—under a contract that expires June 5—retains the right to match ABC's final deal." You can read more over at the Daily Beast.

(Photo of Arianna Huffington in Sept. 2010: Mark Lennihan/AP)