Martin Lewis Selling Up

mikey72

It's not been an overnight purchase. If no-one has been looking over Martion's shoulder, suggesting the spyware, tracking posters, I'd be amazed. No one has been weeded out yet, so I doubt anyone will be. This site is a superb advertising site for exactly the customers comparethemarket want, they live off the commission from click thru's exactly as this site does. This has the benefit of harvesting even more contacts from links, and tips provided by the posters, so a few adverse comments here and there will actually help keep the image up.

wellused

I wouldn't want to criticise Martin for his good fortune and I'm sure that the site is worth that amount of money but surely a part of its success was based on advice given freely by public spirited individuals who posses a huge amount of valuable knowledge?

mountainofdebt

I must admit I wouldn't turn down £87M either but having said that I can't believe that moneysupemarket.com won't want to recoup some of that somehow.

Have to agree it does smack of selling the soul of MSE

mikey72

wellused wrote: »

I wouldn't want to criticise Martin for his good fortune and I'm sure that the site is worth that amount of money but surely a part of its success was based on advice given freely by public spirited individuals who posses a huge amount of valuable knowledge?

That won't change. If Martin made millions off the site each year, moneysupermarket will now. Why should they rock the boat?

lawrie28

I don't think anyone will notice the change. Yes, the site may well have some improvements with search facilities and look a little different, but the reason it is so successful is because it is impartial, very upfront, tells people what links are affiliated and the forums or open and honest too.

If moneysupermarket make mass changes they will be shooting themselves in the foot. They paid MSE about £8m last year, so imagine the commision they got from customers from this site to be able to pay that amount. They have bought it so they can reduce the amount they are paying for these customers. If they paid £8m last year, and MSE is still growing, then they will get the £87m (of which a large chunk is in shares, and another large chunk postponed for three years) money back in less than 10 years, so it makes good business sense. Martin has committed to the site for another 3 years, and unless he wants to stop campaigning after this, would be daft to give it up as it helps with his credibility. Or he will set up another website in 3 years time.

If moneysupermarket change much they will be shooting themselves in the foot.

And with regards paying forum posters etc. as soon as you do that then people forget impartiality and post for the money, so you lose much of the forum.

And if you look at the revenue that MSE generated last year £16m odd, well this figure would have been rising for years, so Martin would have been a millionaire many years ago, and and a multi millionaire before this sale. He could easily have been pulling £5m a year out of the business (no I haven't checked the accounts, that is a guess) so really he has done what any sensible person would do and sold. he has secured his (and his childrens, and there childrens etc.) future. He also will have £25m in shares in moneysupermarket, and I am sure a performance related pay package, so it will be in his interest to keep the site the same as he always has done.

One of the most important things about Martin is his honesty and integrity, and I have never seen anything that makes us doubt either in the past, so don't doubt him or his word at this key moment either.

wellused

mikey72 wrote: »

That won't change. If Martin made millions off the site each year, moneysupermarket will now. Why should they rock the boat?

The point is that the advice was given freely to a money making concern and I mean a fortune not a charity, how does that lie with the people who have given that invaluable advice for free?

doubleJackD

lawrie28 wrote: »

One of the most important things about Martin is his honesty and integrity, and I have never seen anything that makes us doubt either in the past, so don't doubt him or his word at this key moment either.

like the news of the world episode?

martin painted himself as a consumer champion, it seems a stab in the back that he's been making so much money from the people he was respresenting.

people gave their time on this website for the public good, it's a pity Martin saw it as a get rich quick scheme.

mikey72

wellused wrote: »

The point is that the advice was given freely to a money making concern and I mean a fortune not a charity, how does that lie with the people who have given that invaluable advice for free?

He's been getting free advice for ten years, he's used it to make him millions already, so why is it different now? Why did you give him the information? To help other people? It still helped, the fact Martin made a profit from passing it on hasn't detracted from the information.

doubleJackD

guess how much the MSE charity has given out, bearing in mind the site has been making tens of millions.....

368,000 pounds.

then you read the "how we are financed section" and it bangs on about the MSE charity. ehhhmmmm 1% of profits is not a lot....

https://www.msecharity.com/who-we-have-helped.aspx

missile

Good for Martin, he deserves his millions. He is a great role model. I do not envy him and wish there were more like him.

I wonder how many of the "that's it I am off brigade" still use Facebook?