Arianna Huffington said she plans to step down aseditor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, the politics and news siteshe founded in 2005, turning her attention to a wellness venturefocused on the “global pandemic” of stress and burnout.

Huffington, 66, announced her departure Thursday in a memo tostaff of the publication, which was acquired by AOL for $315million in 2011 and is now part of Verizon Communications Inc.’smedia business. She said she had intended to keep running the site,then decided to turn her attention to her startup, Thrive Global,after attracting investors and hiring staff.

“As Thrive Global moved from an idea to a reality, withinvestors, staff, and offices, it became clear to me that I simplycouldn’t do justice to both companies,” Huffington said ina statement.

After achieving a high profile as a media executive,Huffington’s interest in balancing work and restincreased over time. She wrote books including “Thrive” and“The Sleep Revolution.”

“Change is desperately needed if another generation is to avoidthe burnout that all too often comes with success today,” she saidin the statement.

The latest round of funding for Thrive Global was lead by LererHippeau Ventures, which was started by Huffington Post co-founderKenny Lerer and by Eric Hippeau, a former chief executive officerof the publication.

The investor group also includes Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.founder Jack Ma’s investment company Blue Pool Capital, GreycroftPartners, Zoe Baird, Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio,Allianz SE Chief Economic Adviser Mohamed El-Erian, Napster Inc.co-founder Sean Parker and Golden State Warriors player AndreIguodala, according to the statement.

Verizon had given Huffington permission to pursue the newventure while staying with the company, where she serves aspresident and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, peoplefamiliar with the matter told Bloomberg News in June.

“Arianna is a visionary who built the Huffington Post into atruly transformative news platform,” Tim Armstrong, chief executiveofficer of AOL, said in the statement. “Today, the Huffington Postis a firmly established and celebrated news source and AOL andVerizon are committed to continuing its growth and thegroundbreaking work Arianna pioneered.”

Thrive Global, which will work out of the original HuffingtonPost offices in lower Manhattan, has started workshops withAccenture Plc, according to the statement.

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