Country of Origin: Greece
Year came to U.S.: 2005
Education: BA Economics, University of Cambridge
Organization: Huffington Post; Thrive Global
Headquarters: New York City, NY (Huffington Post); New York City, NY (Thrive Global)
2018 revenue: $500 million (Huffington Post), estimate; $143 million (Thrive Global), estimate
U.S. employment: 926 (Huffington Post); 867 (Thrive Global)
Arianna Huffington’s website, the Huffington Post, was the first digital media company to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Forbes rated Arianna Huffington the 77th most powerful woman in the world in 2018.
Arianna Huffington, born Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, immigrated from Greece to England when she was just 16 to attend the University of Cambridge. After graduating, she began a career as a writer, publishing the first of 15 books to date. In 1980, she moved to New York and established herself as a prominent writer and commentator in the United States. Huffington has been politically active since the beginning of her career, writing and speaking extensively on her political beliefs. In 2003, she ran an unsuccessful campaign for California governor against fellow immigrant entrepreneur Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In 2005, she founded Huffington Post alongside Andrew Breitbart, Kenneth Lerer and Jonah Peretti. It was one of the earliest major blogging platforms and news aggregators. Their ability to rapidly produce content about topical issues helped drive traffic and attract investors. In 2011, AOL purchased Huffington Post for $315 million and positioned Huffington as the editor in chief. Just a year later, the Huffington Post claimed digital media’s first Pulitzer Prize for its series on the lives of severely wounded veterans.
In 2016, Arianna Huffington stepped down in order to launch her next venture, Thrive Global, which offers evidence-based solutions to burnout and stress. After literally passing out at her desk from exhaustion, she was inspired to slow down and help others fight overwork. After just six weeks in operation, Thrive Global doubled its revenue targets for the year. As the name indicates, Huffington’s latest venture is having global impact. In just five years Thrive Global opened offices in San Francisco, Athens, Mumbai, Bucharest and Melbourne. Forbes ranked Arianna Huffington as the world’s 77th most powerful woman in 2018, and she has repeatedly made Time Magazine‘s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.
Read the blog post Eight Famous Women Immigrants in the United States to learn about other exceptional female immigrants.
Updated July 2022