Moneysupermarket.com buys MoneySavingExpert for £87m

betmunch

Wh05apk wrote: »

Only to those who thought it was a "charity" before, effectively this has been run as a business and PR machine for :money: and we have been gullible enough to work for him for free.

I dont think anyone thought it was a charity (did they?), but this site would include the links that didnt pay money, this is what made it stand out from other sites such as MSM, Motley Fool, and the like.

I just dont see MSE continuing to offer that service, I think it will just become a rebranded MSM.

Just for the record, I dont feel gullible for posting here, I like helping people, and I can pick and choose when and if I make comment on a thread. Its not real work!

Crashandburn

Should free him up to do some more one on one advice, which is something he likes doing.

Wh05apk

betmunch wrote: »

Just for the record, I dont feel gullible for posting here, I like helping people, and I can pick and choose when and if I make comment on a thread. Its not real work!

I agree with you there, but feel that we have helped to make the site it is, and other's are benefitting far more financially from our contributions.

Crashandburn

When he said £10m to charity cases, perhaps he meant the advisers on here

Senior_Paper_Monitor

For those not on the various press release .....

MoneySupermarket to acquire MoneySavingExpert for £87m

Mortgage Solutions | 01 Jun 2012 | 10:15
IFAonline
Comparison site MoneySupermarket has agreed to buy MoneySavingExpert for £87m from founder Martin Lewis.

• [URL="javascript:void(0);"]inShare[/URL]0
• 
  
  
  
  

The personal finance website was established by Lewis, a financial journalist, in 2003.
According to Google Analytics, the MoneySavingExpert website attracted about 39m unique visitors and approximately 277m page impressions in the year ended 31 October 2011.
In the year ended 31 October 2011, MoneySavingExpert reported revenues of £15.773m (2010: £11.361m) and EBITDA of £12.642m (2010: £8.379m).
On completion, Martin Lewis will become an employee of the MoneySupermarket group and his role will be editor-in-chief of MoneySavingExpert.
MoneySupermarket intends to preserve the editorial independence - free of commercial considerations - of MoneySavingExpert.
In order to ensure this MoneySupermarket and MoneySavingExpert have agreed an editorial code.
Lewis said: "I chose MoneySupermarket to work with as I know and trust them. They understand the site, as they've shown by agreeing the editorial code, which ensures our content can proudly remain editorially independent and free from commercial considerations."
Lewis is set to give £10m to charity when the deal completes, including £1m to Citizens Advice.

betmunch

Wh05apk wrote: »

I agree with you there, but feel that we have helped to make the site it is, and other's are benefitting far more financially from our contributions.

Absolutely agree.

We, and people like us do the work, pick up the pieces after a Martin Lewis clanger (FIX NOW, IceSave, etc) and we do it all in our spare time.

Will be nice to read the Thank-you letter that is obviously waiting to be finalised!

Leon_W

Lewis on Radio 5 Live in about 10 minutes at 12.10 pm

Here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_five_live?lang=en

Bet he can't keep the grin off his face.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Makes interesting reading - the EBITDA ratio to turnover is impressive by anyone's measure.

The price paid is highish but not outlandish (and the potential SEO impact for their commerical sites - although this is obviously a successful a commercial operation in its own right, which I certainly hadn't realised - would comfortably justify this in my view) in terms of pure return on investment.

How this site gets the declared revenues is beyond me at the moment, but pure nosieness (and concern at my obvious naivety) will see me spending lunchtime trying to figure it out.

Chris55_2

It's like a Bar that is popular because it's where the "beautiful people/celebs" hang out - so it becomes very popular and gets sold to a big chain. The "beautiful people" are the reason it was popular - but they don't get paid when it is sold. It's a big risk though for the buyers because they can always go and hang out somewhere else.

So think of yourselves as the "beautiful people/celebs" of MSE!

samtoby

So he gets 87 million and he gives 1k away to Citizens Advice. I think it could of been higher. Shame.