TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington called former boss Arianna Huffington a "touchy psychopath" in a blog post on Wednesday.
Arrington, who was ousted from TechCrunch last September, was writing about the latest editorial change at the Silicon Valley-focused website. On Monday, the site announced that Eric Eldon would replace Erick Schonfeld, a long-time staffer who succeeded Arrington after his departure.
"Arianna Huffington seems to enjoy fucking with TechCrunch in her leisure time," Arrington wrote. Later he referred to a "touchy psychopath" — clearly Huffington — and said that "pleasing Arianna and having editorial independence simultaneously is impossible."
Huffington's spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.
The point of the post was ostensibly to offer advice to future editors of his site and wish for their succcess. Yet even the title, "Helpful Tips For Keeping Your Job as Editor of TechCrunch," demonstrated that Arrington is still sore about what happened last fall.
Also Read: Editor Erick Schonfeld Out at TechCrunch, Former VentureBeat Editor Eric Eldon In
Arrington sold TechCrunch to AOL in September of 2010, but found himself in hot water a year later after he announced he was starting a venture fund — the "CrunchFund." Many saw the fund as a conflict of interest since the site reports on those same types of investment firms.
Further complicating matters was that AOL had invested $10 million in the fund.
Speculation enshrouded AOL for more than a week, with criticism of both sides and many reporting a feud between Arrington and Huffington. This culminated in Arrington's ouster, the departure of several top TechCrunch writers and an all-together messy break-up.
One which has left Arrington, now in charge of the fund and running his blog, scarred.
"Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight with Arianna. She’s smart and she’s mean as hell and she tends to win her fights," Arrington wrote. "I lost. Erick had no chance whatsoever. The poor guy woke up yesterday thinking that everything was peachy. He went to bed without a job."