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Michael Arrington

J. Michael Arrington
Arrington at the World Economic Forum
Born
Jack Michael Arrington[1]

(1970-03-13) March 13, 1970 (age 54)[1]
Orange, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Blogger, entrepreneur
WebsiteTechCrunch

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 America 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

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Born in Huntington Beach, California, Arrington grew up in Huntington Beach and Surrey, England. He attended the University of California, Berkeley for his freshman year and graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a major in economics.[5] 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.[citation needed]

Arrington left the practice of law to join RealNames, which failed after raising $100 million.[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 has also served on the board of directors at the startup Foldera, which was designing a software as a service organizational tool.[6]

He identifies as a libertarian, saying, "I just see government as this thing that stops us from doing things."[7]

Michael Arrington with Chamillionaire

In 2013, he was accused of physical abuse by an ex-girlfriend. Arrington sued the woman for defamation and she agreed to retract her accusations against him and apologize.[5][8]

TechCrunch

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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

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

CrunchPad

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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,[14] and the developers later went bankrupt.[15]

Arrington Capital

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In November 2017, Michael Arrington announced he was starting a $100 million hedge fund. The fund would be denominated in the cryptocurrency XRP, also known as Ripple. It was reported to be the first fund denominated in a cryptocurrency, rather than US dollars or Euros at the time.[16] The fund has invested in more than 50 crypto startups.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c 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. Archived from the original on May 2, 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  5. ^ a b Potter, Maximillian (October 31, 2013). "Relationship Status: Call My Lawyer". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on May 8, 2022. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
  6. ^ Gonzalez, Nick (2007-06-29). "Foldera Launches Public Beta with V 3.0 | TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  7. ^ DePillis, Lydia (2013-05-06). "Mark Zuckerberg's Cynical, Necessary Washington Strategy". The New Republic. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  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 Archived 2011-09-26 at the Wayback Machine, "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. ^ Karr, Arnold J. (12 February 2014). "Bluefly Gets CrunchFund Investment". WWD. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  13. ^ Arnold J. Karr and Rachel Brown (13 February 2014). "Melissa Payner Rejoins Bluefly as CrunchFund Invests". WWD. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  14. ^ "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.
  15. ^ "Fusion Garage sinks into liquidation, owes creditors some $40 million". Engadget. 2012-01-09. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  16. ^ "Michael Arrington Has a New $100M Hedge Fund That Will Be Valued in Ripple's XRP". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  17. ^ "Portfolio". Arrington XRP Capital. 2018-03-06. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
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