Did HuffPo’s $200m Valuation Come From PR Guy?

One of the “must reads” today is Simon Dumenco’s story in Advertising Age on all of those crazy web 2.0 valuations we keep hearing about. Notably, the number of $200m which Dumenco himself has heard quite a few times in relation to companies from Digg to the Huffington Post.

So where do these numbers come from? In HuffPo’s case, Dumenco hints it just may be PR. He cites a quote from Gawker Media founder Nick Denton, who wrote:

“I suspect the deal owes as much to [HuffPo co-founder] Kenny Lerer’s behind-the-scenes dealmaking as to Arianna’s election showmanship. For instance, Lerer — a former PR man for Michael Milken who once boasted that briefing journalists was as easy as ‘breastfeeding’ babies — was the one who talked up Huffpo’s valuation. Where else did that $200m valuation come from?” (In a subsequent comment, it should be noted, Denton said he got that Lerer anecdote from Nina Munk’s 2005 book, “Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner,” and added that Munk “also ran his denial in the footnotes.”)

Ok, so Dumenco can’t be sure the valuation number came from PR, but he certainly didn’t refrain from keeping the tidbit out of his story. What do you think?

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