sandintoes,
If not them, then who?
Very possibly, no one...
SI is worth only as many dollars as a potential buyer is willing to spend, or inversely, for how little dollars INSP is willing to accept in a sale. Right now, SI represents costs to INSP, as well as being a source of cash flow through subscription sales, advertising revenues, and sales of miscellaneous services (such as charting). There is very little in intangible assets, such as the name "Silicon Investor" itself or the historical postings that comprise the SI history.
Who would potentially be a buyer? Likely not any of the current major players like Yahoo! or AOL or Motley Fool, who all have severe financial problems of their own. Perhaps you could make an exception for Yahoo! or AOL if they could acquire SI dirt cheap, and then repackage it as Premium content or pay-to-post, which would then directly compete (which it does now) with their own boards. But, given that SI comes with heavy baggage (all of those lifetime memberships), it seems unlikely to me that either Yahoo! or AOL would make a bid now, when they could make a dirt cheap offer should INSP (and its assets) make it to bankruptcy court, where the lifetime memberships could/would be terminated.
The only way that there would be a "bidding war" would be if someone was bidding up the price not because they wanted SI for themselves, but because they wanted to prevent someone else from buying it on the cheap.
The buyer of SI would have to be someone or some entity that understands SI, and understands that it's not likely to (ever) be some major revenue producing venue. It will generate enough cash (maybe) to be self-supporting, and perhaps pay for a few technicians. That's about all. And break even is in question (for the foreseeable future) given the current bear market conditions and the (likely permanently) lost interest of the vast majority of people that used to post here and elsewhere on the Internet.
So, in my estimation, that leaves only three possibilities. The first is for the SI family (the loyal current posters) to buy out SI. (Won't happen. No way, in my opinion.) Secondly, you have BobZ and any potential backers from I-Hub. And lastly, there is a very remote possibility that the Dryers themselves might be interested. (Again, I have my doubts, but I'll allow for the possibility.)
Of course all of this assumes that INSP would be willing to divest itself of SI. My opinion is that they won't, unless they can get something well in excess of what it's worth, which again, I don't think will happen. I think that INSP would rather let it go into Internet history rather than sell out to someone else who might have more success with it than they did. Sort of an ego thing, if you catch my drift, which is completely in accord with the personality of at least one major controlling interest...
I think our days here are numbered. If and/or when that happens, I'll see you somewhere else, more than likely at I-Hub...
KJC |
