Martin's done quite nicely

BigAl94

out of this site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18295587

D.A.

Good for him - I'm sure this place is a massive pain in the butt to run sometimes, and Martin and the staff must've put in a huge amount of work to get it up and running in the first place.

If the site maintains its editorial independence, not a problem!

iritchie

When it's been bought by MoneySupermarket.com?
Not a chance...this site promotes many of their rivals.

I'm happy that Martin has managed to make some money for the amount of help he has given people for free over the years, but I think this is the beginning of the end for an independent site like this.
Something like this simply can't have any direct commercial ownership, because there is a massive conflict of interest.

paulofessex

Well done Martin, all credit to him and his team

worsley

"I'm happy that Martin has managed to make some money for the amount of help he has given people for free over the years"

are you kidding me, did you read the report, he made £12.6m last year. He's not running the site for fun, he's running it because it makes money.

and guess what, moneysupermarket are buying it BECAUSE IT MAKES MONEY

NAR

Well done Martin. Just glad to see you are remaining on the editorial team.

Aseros_2

Isn't he remaining on the editorial team for 3 years, after that surely MoneySupermarket.com would get rid of him and change their editorial policy?

TryingToWork

I think Martin deserves this. He has built a trusted business out of helping people with no cost to them. So many businesses believe that you have to sell all your services and infomation. Martin understands that millions of people use the internet for acquiring free information, but are happy to click an ad or affiliate link (such as the ones embedded in the Amazon discount checker) provided by the people who give away lots of valuable free advice.

If Martin had not made commercial use of the enormous amounts of traffic to the site, then he would be a pretty poor businessman, as the money he has earned came, as I say, at no cost to any of his site visitors. They would have bought from Amazon anyway - it might as well be through his affiliate link.

Well done Martin. :T:T:T

I hope to emulate him by building a trusted online marketing business, by giving people great free advice and giving customers more use value than they give in cash value.

TryingToWork

Aseros wrote: »

Isn't he remaining on the editorial team for 3 years, after that surely MoneySupermarket.com would get rid of him and change their editorial policy?

I think they know that the reason for the popularity of the site is becuase of Martin directly; his ethics, passion and personality. They would be silly to let him go, because the site's traffic would surely dwindle as a result of his departure.

However, he might want to leave then, and that would be his prerogative, but I doubt it, as he is so passionate about righting wrongs and helping people.

shalis

I don't begrudge Martin his nest egg at all. Good luck to him.It was his baby after all. However, I can't help but think that the independence for which this site has become so well known will surely disappear when it has been bought up by a commercial outfit like moneysupermarket for such a large amount. They are not a charity.

I would also re-iterate the comments about the staff, as mentioned by DA. What a job they have!! Some of the matters which are posted on the NI Forum seem to me at times to have nothing to do with saving money.

arkonite_babe

Full clarification HERE and HERE on the sale of MSE