Arianna Huffington to leave Huffington Post for wellness startup

NEW YORK, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Huffington Post co-founder and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington announced she will step down to focus on a new health and wellness website.

Huffington, 66, said she is turning her attention to the soon-to-launch Thrive Global, which she had originally planned to run while remaining at the Huffington Post. She said she changed her mind after realizing she "could not build a company part-time."

"I really thought I could do both, but as we started building it up, I realized that it really needed my full attention," she said in an interview. "It is important to know when one door closes and another opens and I felt that moment had arrived."

The left-leaning Huffington Post launched in 2005 after President George W. Bush was re-elected. In 2011, it was acquired by AOL for $315 million. Huffington's future at the news and opinion website was in question when AOL was bought by Verizon Communications Inc. for $4.4 billion in 2015. But in June 2015, she announced she'd signed a four-year contract, extending her tenure until 2019.

Huffington said her departure is not tied to the decision by Verizon to buy Yahoo for $4.8 billion.

"The Yahoo deal can be great for HuffPost because of the amazing distribution it can provide for our content," she said.

Building something from scratch doesn't get easier just because you've done it before. There is only 1 way to do it: w/ your full attention.

— Arianna Huffington (@ariannahuff) August 11, 2016

Huffington said that Thrive Global's mission is to "change the way we work and live by ending the collective delusion that burnout is a necessary price for success."

"By reducing stress and exhaustion, we can improve people's health and increase productivity for both companies and individuals around the world," she said.