Responds to threat of legal action

Arrington responds to an alleged threat of legal action by Calacanis over the proceeds of the TechCrunch Disrupt sale to AOL. He says that the event – when it was known as TechCrunch 50 – had productive years in 2007 and 2008 when it was first competing with the paid events like Demo but that it became apparent Calacanis wasn’t putting in as much as TechCrunch despite the 50-50 profit split. He also wasn’t approving some expenses, forcing TechCrunch to either sue him or take the hit – it chose the second option. Reportedly Calacanis became abusive on a phone call and made a TechCrunch employee cry. Arrington:

And his most shining moment – he got so drunk the night before the last day of the 2008 conference that he couldn’t show up to be on stage until hours after the event started.

Arrington says he still considers Calacanis a friend but that all efforts to work with him – including offering 10% of TechCrunch and a board seat – have failed.