Airliners.net Sold to Demand Media!

[PhilDernerJr]

Johan has sold Anet to an American marketing company called Demand Media. Wild stuff.

Here's his post about it:

Hi all,

As you probably know, Airliners.net keeps growing year after year with more photos, more forum posts, more visitors, more users and more photographers. This is fantastic. I could never in my wildest dreams have imagined this success when I started the site ten years ago.

And what comes with success?? Managing it. And I know you have felt some of the growing pains. There are infrastructure issues – like trying to stay on top of the hardware needs of this site but complexities and the site’s growth have caused outages. What started in my dorm room on one computer is now supported by 25 – and that’s not including all the network gear.

And there are administrative issues. Growing the site, supporting the community and keeping things running takes a big toll on me – All Crew groups have long lists of bugs I need to fix and administrative features I need to add.

The last couple of months I've been thinking real hard on finding a long term solution. We want Airliners.net to keep growing both in numbers and in quality of service to its users and be as strong in 10 years as it is today.

So today, I am happy to announce that we have agreed to be acquired by a company called Demand Media. Don't worry, I'll still be around. I will gradually hand over stuff like management of the hardware, the administrative stuff, programming work and so on. Henrik will also stay so you won't actually see any changes at all, at least not at first, and the changes will be for the better.

Demand Media is not a big company but are experts on what they do, running community sites such as Airliners.net. They have the hardware, the server rooms, and the dedicated programmers to help out with all your programming requests and so on. I came into contact with these guys a few months ago and have been very impressed with what I've seen. Me and Henrik actually went over to Los Angeles (where the company is based) and sat down to meet them face to face. I have no doubts they will be able to help operate the site successfully for many years to come.

This is big news and I realize you will have a lot of questions and some concerns. Please post them below and I will do my best to reply to them.

Thank you all,
Johan

What are your thoughts?

[Midnight Mike]

Expect to see changes. This company probably bought airliners.net for the ad revenue that it brings in & not because the company likes pretty airplanes.....

My guess, expect to see more banner ads & google ads on airliners.net

On another website that I visit, it was sold off to a similar type of company, about 2 weeks after the sale, the website was invaded by banner ads.......

Yeah I know, same old comments, nothing will change :roll:

Must have been quite an offer, Johan charged a pretty penny for those banner ads....

[SoPictureThis]

Hmm, very surprising to me. I guess the two biggest aviation photography websites in the world are now American based, hah! It will be interesting to see if the whole American vs European-ness of the great "Jetphotos.net vs Airliners.net" controversy/debate/conundrum/pickle/whatever you wanna call it, will continue to be an element of heat amongst the aviation enthusiast global community.

I predict some people are going to feel very strongly about this, and others will be impartial...I'm not exactly sure where I stand, or if I care at all... :roll:

- jMay

[hiss srq]

I am for it but I am also against it. If things remain similar to now than rock on. Granted a little of the eurotrash fabulous mindset on there needs to go away but I have been on A net since like 1998 surfing the site. I love the site so it is sad to see Johan is selling it.

[bonanzabucks]

I wonder how much he sold it for. A site that big must cost a lot.

I suspect he was really tired of taking care of it and needed a rest. I don't blame him. He can't keep doing that forever and maybe he can FINALLY finish his Masters!

As for the Euro vs USA thing, some Swiss dude already expressed regret that an American company was taking over. Didn't take long.

[PhilDernerJr]

I would guess it was sold for about 3-4 million.

[bonanzabucks]

I would guess it was sold for about 3-4 million.

Not bad. Providing the Swedish tax system doesn't screw him over, he could probably retire.

[PhilDernerJr]

I don't think anyone in their late 20s or early 30s can actually retire on 3-4 million, especially after taxes.

[tipek]

And because of that I'm removing all of my pictures from airliners.net. I started uploading there in 1997 for fun. If they want to generate revenue as a company thats fine, but I wont be supporting them.

Rafal

[Matt Molnar]

Rafal,

Can you explain why you feel that way? Johan made a lot of dough from user-submitted content before this. Why do you feel differently now that it's a "company?"

[bonanzabucks]

Rafal,

Can you explain why you feel that way? Johan made a lot of dough from user-submitted content before this. Why do you feel differently now that it's a "company?"

Johan said himself that Airlines.net was a corporation. Maybe it was based in Sweden, but it was already a corporation. His taxes would be a lot higher if it wasn't. So, really, no difference.

Why can't people just accept that he got tired of it all and didn't want to deal with the website anymore? It's hard work.

[NIKV69]

Can you explain why you feel that way? Johan made a lot of dough from user-submitted content before this. Why do you feel differently now that it's a "company?"

It's such hypocracy. Here's a little reality check Johan made Millions on ya Rafal before DM ever came along. Just because you are into aviation and photograpy doesn't mean you can't be in it for a profit.

My guess, expect to see more banner ads & google ads on airliners.net

I disagree Mike, I am hoping the FC members will still be able to surf the site ad free. They are annoying.

I would guess it was sold for about 3-4 million.

I would say 5ish.

he could probably retire.

Doubt it, Phil's right he would still have to work. Especially if he wants the lifestyle he has been enjoying to continue.

[mirrodie]

And because of that I'm removing all of my pictures from airliners.net. I started uploading there in 1997 for fun. If they want to generate revenue as a company thats fine, but I wont be supporting them.

Rafal

Rafal, I am curious to hear more about this since they've been making $$$ on you since your first upload. And they also 'create' the opportunity to 'profit share' if you sell your images.


I've held off commenting since I am crew for anet.
Congrats to Johan. He;s working ridiculously hard for 10 years and earned it. And I know I can thank him for taking an enthusiast website and helping it create so many opportunities.

Heck, were it not for Anet, I still wouldnt have met that crazy guy from College Point! :shock: :mrgreen:

[USAF Pilot 07]

I don't think anyone in their late 20s or early 30s can actually retire on 3-4 million, especially after taxes.

In NYC, maybe not... Anywhere else, that's plenty of money. You can invest it in even a modest return asset, say something like 6%, beat inflation and live off the rest.

[bonanzabucks]

[quote=USAF Pilot 07]

I don't think anyone in their late 20s or early 30s can actually retire on 3-4 million, especially after taxes.

In NYC, maybe not... Anywhere else, that's plenty of money. You can invest it in even a modest return asset, say something like 6%, beat inflation and live off the rest.[/quote:63530]

Exactly. And I bet I could retire on that in NYC as well. I know people who have done it (here too) on less. It depends on the lifestyle you live.