Has anyone ever offered to buy your forum?

[PumpinIron]

I had a company (Internet Brands I believe it was) offer me 350k for my forum a few months back.

I turned it down because after taxes I wouldn't pocket that much. Not to mention I actually very much enjoy running my forum, as it’s a passion of mine.

Anyways, just thought this might make for an interesting topic of conversation.

 

[Ozzy47]

If you want to see your forum run down, and filled with spam and ads, sell it to IB.

 

[PumpinIron]

If you want to see your forum run down, and filled with spam and ads, sell it to IB.

Totally agreed! I’ve seen what has happened to the other forums they’ve bought. Some of them used to be good forums, now they are garbage!

 

[thumped]

I've had a couple of offers over the years but shut them down fairly quickly and never got as far as talking specific amounts... to be honest, it'd be like selling a kidney or something.

 

[PumpinIron]

I suppose everything in life has a price, but 350k isn’t even close. Internet Brands and Vertical Scope are in the business of ruining forums, that’s for sure.

 

[thumped]

 

[BoostN]

I suppose everything in life has a price, but 350k isn’t even close. Internet Brands and Vertical Scope are in the business of ruining forums, that’s for sure.

They've bought many forums I've been apart of, and ruined them all.

 

[PumpinIron]

I know I was a part of the Ducati forum, Wrangler forum, and a number of other automotive forums before Internet Brands bought them out and they subsequently wen't down hill.

 

[duderuud]

Also had an offer years ago. Had a few long talks with that company but we eventually turned it down for the same reasons tbh.

 

[Kintaro]

I had a company (Internet Brands I believe it was) offer me 350k for my forum a few months back.

WOW! This is a lot! How big is the forum they were interested in?

 

[Sperber]

350k for my forum

Just curious - for which one? The ones in your signature? How did they estimate them with 350k?

 

[Mendalla]

Someone spammed us with an offer to buy, but not an amount. I just blew it off (ie. ignored it). Technically I don't "own" the place since we set it up as a community-owned forum. Basically, I would have to put such an offer to a vote even if I thought it was a good idea (and I don't).

 

[gerryvz]

One question - do they have a non-compete clause, where you cannot open a similar forum for a period of time after you sell?

 

[shimspedy]

I had a company (Internet Brands I believe it was) offer me 350k for my forum a few months back.

I turned it down because after taxes I wouldn't pocket that much. Not to mention I actually very much enjoy running my forum, as it’s a passion of mine.

Anyways, just thought this might make for an interesting topic of conversation.

well, a lot of company do but sometimes it doesn't worth it compared to the time you spent and how your life would be after you sale it.

they have a lot of auto-sites with poor UI and management and most of their content is old .... these guys are dream killer lol

 

[Ozzy47]

One question - do they have a non-compete clause, where you cannot open a similar forum for a period of time after you sell?

IIRC Internet Brands does have such a clause.

 

[gerryvz]

They'd be kind of stupid not to, but was just wondering. I agree with the folks here who turned them down, particularly for a forum that is a passion (as mine is to me).

 

[PumpinIron]

WOW! This is a lot! How big is the forum they were interested in?

Not huge, but it generates 100k a year in revenue, so I think that might be why.

Just curious - for which one? The ones in your signature? How did they estimate them with 350k?

This one:

Jeep Wrangler TJ Forum

An online forum for owners and enthusiasts of the Jeep Wrangler TJ (produced from 1997-2006).

wranglertjforum.com

It doesn't appear that big, but it generates 100k a year in revenue from Amazon affiliate links, paid "supporting" memberships, Google ads, and eBay affiliate links. My background is in web design / SEO, so I've been very effective with the site.

My issue is that the forum is a passion of mine. Like I said earlier, everyone has a price, and if someone offered me 7 figures, I'd probably have a hard time saying no. But when you think about 350k, after you pay taxes on it you're left with maybe 275k (or something like that), and in this day and age, that doesn't go that far.

I wasn't too familiar with them at first (Internet Brands), but the more I looked, the more it appears that they own almost every major forum on the internet. It looks like they are just in the business of buying people out.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Internet Brands and Vertical Scope are in the business of ruining forums, that’s for sure.

But why would they do that? Surely they would make more money by not ruining them?

 

[PumpinIron]

But why would they do that? Surely they would make more money by not ruining them?

In their minds they are ruining them. However, from the perspective of a forum user, when you have 50+ sub-forums and I have to literally guess where I should post mine (or if it will even be seen), that's problematic.

I also can tell you that they seem to be very stuck on using vBulletin, which in my experience is a horrible, horrible forum software these days.

In addition, all of the forums I've visited run by Internet Brands (after they got bought out) all seem to have very poor moderation / administration, sometimes non-existent at all.

Just my experiences. I have no doubt they make money off them. I also have no doubt I could make more money off them if I took them over. I think there are better ways than VigLink

 

[Ozzy47]

But why would they do that? Surely they would make more money by not ruining them?

Oddly enough they still make money on them even though they run them into the ground.