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The day of reckoning is coming [split off from other threads]
Originally Posted by 2lovelife
(Post 30501542)
I’m falling asleep within the first 2 paragraphs of every OMAAT post. He’s been doing the same thing since he was 17... and lately switched to only covering the airlines I’d never take. I’ve switched channels along with it. I find the other bloggers posting stuff frequent flyers are interested in... Try skipping the first two-thirds. |
Originally Posted by josephstern
(Post 30502488)
Especially because of the amount of rehash before you get to the meat of the post. Try skipping the first two-thirds.
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Just noticed this and not sure when it changed, but OMAAT no longer has .boardingarea. in the URL. I wonder if he is going to leave the platform? I'm sure Lucky has the clout to negotiate the best deal among the Boarding Area blogs.
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Originally Posted by kilbornr
(Post 30506165)
Just noticed this and not sure when it changed, but OMAAT no longer has .boardingarea. in the URL. I wonder if he is going to leave the platform? I'm sure Lucky has the clout to negotiate the best deal among the Boarding Area blogs.
Reasons why not - $150k is loose change for Ben and it drives some new readers, he would also need to add some freelance tech support The real loss for people who go on BA is lack of revenue from home page views. My home page is 30% of views and so 30% of ad revenue. I never see the home pages of BA bloggers because I never visit them directly, I use the BA site as mega-home page equivalent. Coming off BA would see a lot more home page views from people who visited directly going forward. |
VFTW and OMAAT both have a great deal going with the HOM and Randy. Should Randy ever consider to sell BA to anyone, they should have clauses in their contracts to jump ship.
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Originally Posted by oliver2002
(Post 30508537)
VFTW and OMAAT both have a great deal going with the HOM and Randy. Should Randy ever consider to sell BA to anyone, they should have clauses in their contracts to jump ship.
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Originally Posted by oliver2002
(Post 30508537)
VFTW and OMAAT both have a great deal going with the HOM and Randy.
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Originally Posted by kilbornr
(Post 30506165)
Just noticed this and not sure when it changed, but OMAAT no longer has .boardingarea. in the URL. I wonder if he is going to leave the platform? I'm sure Lucky has the clout to negotiate the best deal among the Boarding Area blogs.
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Originally Posted by Raffles
(Post 30508635)
I would put that the other way round. "'Great deal' with" vs "great deal going with". But I hear you on that, even as we speak the same nominal language. :D But inertia is inertia, and it seems like VFTW's principal is busy with more than just VFTW, and OMAAT is too. So leaving a chunk of money on the table as a gift for not having to pick up the dishes and stuff may just be par for the course, no less so when they sort of grew up eating at HOM with Randy Petersen and stirring the pot and splashing around with HOM/Randy Petersen. |
Originally Posted by 84fiero
(Post 30508639)
I think it's been that way for quite some time.
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
(Post 30508614)
mommypoints managed to jump ship even without a BA sale, right? If so, the BA bloggers definitely don't seem to be modern-day indentured servants or worse off.
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Originally Posted by oliver2002
(Post 30508855)
As with everything else here in the peanut gallery we had this topic before. The conclusion last time was that the HOM nicely manages to keep its main light towers happy so they stay on. I doubt mommy points was one of them. Any BArea blogger is free to leave at any time, but the alternative is often daunting. Remember the exodus in 2010 or 11 where a group of BA bloggers opened a competing platform which crashed and burned due to insufficient resources? OTOH Randy can surely sell BArea rather easily if he ever decides to do so.
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i would think randy would not sell if he is majority owner (how old is he?)
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If Randy sells to TPG... I quit! :)
I agree with GUWonder that something is definitely different with OMAAT's url this time... #developing ? In the meantime, Ben takes his dad around for yet another trip...Does he still do the pics of the small white towels? The cans of Diet Coke? Maybe I should do a poll for what is next for Ben? |
Originally Posted by Kagehitokiri
(Post 30510467)
i would think randy would not sell if he is majority owner (how old is he?)
I believe - please correct me if I'm wrong - that he's sold his office complex recently. Here is the listing for it from 2016: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1989...do-Springs-CO/ |
Originally Posted by Raffles
(Post 30513197)
Randy is winding down - read the interview he gave this week (forgot which blog).
I believe - please correct me if I'm wrong - that he's sold his office complex recently. Here is the listing for it from 2016: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1989...do-Springs-CO/ Edit: But it's from more than a week ago, technically at least. :D
Originally Posted by pointshogger.boardingarea.com
As most people probably know already, you have been very active in the miles and points world, so what else have you been working on that we can look forward to?
I’m about at the end of a marvelous period of my life, all with nothing less than the best of all jobs (I have it), the best of all travel experiences (I’ve been to over 100 countries and visited literally every airline / hotel company HQ in the world and the best network of fellow flyer friends all around the world. With the successes of FlyerTalk, BoardingArea, the Freddie Awards and now the global locations of InsideFlyer, while I have some other ideas it really is time for me to spend more time on my ranch high in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and slow down a bit. I like heading out on terra firma in my RV. I’m not really a cowboy but play the part of one in my real life! I started all of what I do in 1986 so it is common to say that many of the frequent flyers I exchange with these days were not even born when I started. That is one of the many very positive things about miles + points. About the office space, I don't know if it used to be partially leased out to other (unrelated) companies by him before, but it's got some company using it as an office address that wasn't there a handful of years ago IIRC. |
he would almost certainly work out moving his equity with IF partners, i guess IF might sell BA
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Inside Flyer is worthless, I think, based on discussions. Potentially I would take the UK arm for free, which would at least staunch those losses, in return for a revenue share. BA is a good business but Ben, Gary and Greg - probably 70% of page views - would want either a massive cut of proceeds or a big payment to guarantee continued participation which would flatten the sale value. |
IF owns BA? unless 'coverage' was simplified
IIRC randy gave some equity in IF to 3 including gary ben and greg could get some equity from randy ben is still pretty young in terms of long term there are reasons ($) ben was not acquired basically IMHO many 'misunderstand' randy |
which sums up a lot of pop media
yet they also have readers who fly paid F using them as one of their sources and their (related) award booking service is booming
Originally Posted by gpapadop
(Post 30524508)
"All it matters is conversions" - Blogger who sold way too early
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There must be more to this... why would VFTW and OMAAT happen to pick on TPG at this point? Usually the titans avoided taking pot shots at each other the past 8-9 years. TPG did nearly everything right and is courted by the travel industry. The other two stuck with the BArea platform and prefer(ed) anonymity. All of them still made millions, but probably TPG earned the most.
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Maybe TPG made an offer to Randy to buy BA. And Randy told the big boys in the platform. And now they are all pissed lol.
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Some people believe a day of reckoning is coming. |
Originally Posted by Raffles
(Post 30938729)
Some people believe a day of reckoning is coming. |
Ben continues to call out the junk posts on TPG:
"Earlier today I saw a story with hacks for scoring free bottled water at hotels.....When I first saw the headline, I figured it would provide the one useful piece of advice when it comes to scoring free spring/filtered/bottled water at hotels, but it didn’t." This is fascinating and there has to be a story why Ben and others are finally openly criticizing the garbage of The Points Guy. Perhaps the Bonvoy garbage was the straw that broke the camel's back. |
Well....it is weird, considering how much $$ has gone from BA to TPG:
Mommy Points went all in. OMAAT lost a writer...James I think? The list of BA bloggers who write at TPG for the money is endless: Deals We Like, Pizza With Motion, Points With a Crew....add to the list, I am going to watch some ncaa basketball before I fall asleep :) |
Originally Posted by gpapadop
(Post 30941163)
Well....it is weird, considering how much $$ has gone from BA to TPG:
Mommy Points went all in. OMAAT lost a writer...James I think? The list of BA bloggers who write at TPG for the money is endless: Deals We Like, Pizza With Motion, Points With a Crew....add to the list, I am going to watch some ncaa basketball before I fall asleep :) |
Originally Posted by zeer0
(Post 30941191)
Wow, I had no idea so many people are writing for TPG. Very disappointed to see Ed and Dan writing for that sellout.
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Originally Posted by iadisgreat
(Post 30940356)
When the bubble that has made (multiple!) people millions of dollars using information that can be obtained for free on this very website pops? I'm shocked, shocked I say!
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> HOM/RanDecisions will soon cash out on the BArea pot of gold
I am surprised it has not happened...yet. |
Originally Posted by oliver2002
(Post 30941913)
Nope, that is staying. What may/will/must happen is that the HOM/RanDecisions will soon cash out on the BArea pot of gold. Most probably all of the bloggers hosted by BArea can't do anything about it.
Reminds me of the time on Mad Men when the British buyers found out that Don Draper wasn't under contract. |
Originally Posted by gpapadop
(Post 30936584)
Maybe he had an offer from TPG which he found demeaning lol.
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It seems Brian of TPG has taken over the role Randy played a few years ago and is now courted by the travel loyalty industry (and the credit card companies, but that is more of a 2010s phenomenon and was never really Randys thing). Gary and Ben were pushed/promoted by Randy in the past (eg when a news outlet called to get an appearance etc) but not to the extent to replace him entirely.
Neither managed to clearly step out of the shadow of Randy and while the credit card commissions flowed and some ad revenue came in, Brian/TPG gets the limelight. |
Originally Posted by oliver2002
(Post 30951397)
It seems Brian of TPG has taken over the role Randy played a few years ago and is now courted by the travel loyalty industry (and the credit card companies, but that is more of a 2010s phenomenon and was never really Randys thing). Gary and Ben were pushed/promoted by Randy in the past (eg when a news outlet called to get an appearance etc) but not to the extent to replace him entirely.
Neither managed to clearly step out of the shadow of Randy and while the credit card commissions flowed and some ad revenue came in, Brian/TPG gets the limelight. Big difference: Randy was always a bit of hippie and that kept him from selling out entirely (even when he sold FlyerTalk he tried to make it happen again with MilePoint rather than staying on his knees before his new corporate overlords). Brian has no such qualms. |
So to whom and when is RandyPetersen selling off the BA blog business? |
Originally Posted by GUWonder
(Post 31108840)
So to whom and when is RandyPetersen selling off the BA blog business? There is something here though. Ben has card links, others do not. Under some sort of structures, Ben could probably take control and then make the other BA writers subaffiliates using his permissions. Could be lucrative. |
Don't forget VFTW.
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Originally Posted by Raffles
(Post 31110254)
As the 80/20 rules is at play here, probably no-one unless Ben gets a big cut of the equity, There is something here though. Ben has card links, others do not. Under some sort of structures, Ben could probably take control and then make the other BA writers subaffiliates using his permissions. Could be lucrative. |
GSTP already subleasing cc affiliate links from Ben. Ok,, so more do among BA blogs...but that market is inherently limited (think 5/24, amex once in a lifetime, etc)...
While GTP has deals with Business Insider and a crapload of other heavy traffic sites dealing wit newbies who had never had a CSP before. #developing |
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