Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Calacanis, Arrington In War Over Launch, Says Report

A report last night from the Atlantic Wire says that Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Santa Monica-based Mahalo.com, and Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, are at war over the new Launch Conference being run by Calacanis this week. According to the report, Arrington has been threatening potential attendees, sponsors, and companies with bad or no-coverage on TechCrunch. Calacanis has been selling Launch as an alternative to Arrington's own TechCrunch Disrupt conference. The reports would not be far fetched, as Arrington and Calacanis already are embroiled in a lawsuit over proceeds from the sale of TechCrunch to AOL, and the two had an highly visible falling out over TechCrunch50. Launch is being held today and tomorrow in San Francisco.

---