Michael Arrington:

Some of you may have read Sarah Lacy's <a href="http://pandodaily.com/2012/04/09/investor-update/">post today</a> stating that I'm no longer on the board of Pando Daily.</p>
<p>This wasn't a complete surprise to me, the company notified me last week that they weren't happy that I and MG Siegler (my partner at CrunchFund) were <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/04/im-back/">going to speak</a> at TechCrunch Disrupt this coming May.</p>
<p>Part of the reason that I'm speaking at Disrupt is that I have a contractual commitment to do so as part of my <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/deciding-to-move-on/">break</a> with them last year, which Sarah knew about before our involvement in Pando. But MG and I are also speaking there because we still love TechCrunch. And we both speak at many other conferences as well.

Hints of trouble in paradise. (<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/feb/26/blogger-journalist-silicon-valley-dan-lyons">Read this</a> if you need reminders on Techcrunch and Pandodaily.)

Michael Arrington issues an ultimatum to his new employer: "We’ve proposed two options to Aol.<br />
<br />
1. Reaffirmation of the editorial independence promised at the time of acquisition. Given the current circumstances, that means autonomy from Huffington Post, unfettered editorial independence and a blanket right to editorial self determination. To put it simply, TechCrunch would stay with Aol but would be independent of the Huffington Post.<br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
2. Sell TechCrunch back to the original shareholders."<br />
<br />
Popcorn?

"Arrington will partner with many well-known Silicon Valley venture capitalists – including Digg-founder Kevin Rose, Yuri Milner, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowiz, and Accel Partners – to invest between $100,000 and $200,000 in fledgling internet firms."