NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A longtime Huffington Post blogger has filed a lawsuit against the site, its two co-founders and new owner AOL, seeking $105 million on behalf of himself and 9,000 other unpaid bloggers...Tasini says Arianna Huffington personally invited him to blog for the Huffington Post in 2005, shortly after the site launched. He subsequently wrote 216 unpaid posts for the site, though he stopped blogging after AOL (AOL) agreed to buy it on February 7. AOL's $315 million Huffington Post purchase served as the catalyst for the lawsuit. Tasini says HuffPo's 9,000 unpaid bloggers deserve a large cut of the windfall. "The value added by the content provided by [the unpaid bloggers] to TheHuffingtonPost.com's price was at least $105 million, none of which was shared," the legal complaint says....HuffPo bloggers, Tasini says, "are merely slaves on Arianna's plantation. We do all the work and she won't share a dime." A Huffington Post spokesman said "the lawsuit is without merit." He compared the site's unpaid bloggers with the "hundreds of people [who] go on TV shows to promote their views and ideas." He also pointed out bloggers can cross-post their work on other sites, and that the company does employ a full-time, paid staff as well.
Whoa, whoa. Easy Jonathan. You kind of had me until you went off the reservation there with the "Slaves on Arianna's plantation" comment. I mean, you're white bro. You know how slavery worked here, right?
So that didn't help your case at all with me, but what sealed it is I realized that I'm in Arianna's position here and quite frankly if The Maestro or Dr. Jack came to me right now demanding $105 million for their "free" contributions, I'd 100% say no. Like sorry guys, you knew the deal when you started. Sure we may rake a few advertising dollars here and there, enough for a medium sub and a fountain drink at subway, but that money can only stretch so far. $105 million just seems unrealistic for a handful of contributions.
And sure HuffPo's situation may be a little different. No giant media conglomerates have coming pounding on The Alt-Tab's door seeking to buy me out, yet anyway, but I can't help but feel that this still doesn't entitle Jonathan to jack shit.
