January 17, 2008 | E-mail article link | m-Travel.com
| Comments (4)
AOL is reportedly eyeing online travel and lifestyle community Where Are You Now? (WAYN) for $200 million.
AOL is reportedly eyeing online travel and lifestyle community Where Are You Now? (WAYN) for $200 million.
According to uk.techcrunch.com, "three well-placed sources have all independently quoted the $200m figure" and "named AOL as the prospective buyer".
The author the report shared: "In a phone call tonight Anika Erskine, WAYN's marketing manager, told me: "We are absolutely not for sale. We're not considering it at the moment. We're excited about what we've done and the partnerships we've signed. We've just launched a new version of our travel guides, with tonnes of content and new services. We're very much pushing down that route - cutting edge mobile services, UK focused and rolling out across other countries."
"But the fact that no deal has been announced yet is put down by my sources to delicate negotiations around a generous earn-out clause proposed by the founders. And the signs are that this is proving to be a sticking point in negotiations. The site is only on course to bring in $4.5m of revenues this year, a figure which contrasts markedly with the exit price."
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Comments
This is just a simple rumour. Wayn is not selling the website.
Posted by: Marta | Jan 17, 2008 10:35:27 AM
Further to the comments referred to in this article we would like to confirm that WAYN has at no point had discussions with AOL and are not currently looking for a strategic sale.
WAYN is unique in that it is focused on the travel vertical which represents by far the largest and most lucrative sector online and we are excited about the new products we are introducing to our members and the prospect of developing into the mobile space with location based data and services being one of our core strengths. We benefit from a broad demographic with over 50% of our UK users over the age of 35. We are also one of the only social networks which is 18+ to improve the safety for our users.
Our present focus is to create long term value and build a truly successful business. The WAYN vision is to become the world’s largest and most successful travel and lifestyle community portal and our management team is solely focused on achieving that goal.
If there are any questions regarding this article in particular, the WAYN travel/lifestyle services or to receive information about future announcements from WAYN please contact annika.erskine@wayn.com.
Posted by: Annika Erskine - WAYN.com | Jan 17, 2008 10:36:36 AM
I don't think that this is true. I work closely in the social networking environment and don't believe this story. WAYN is in a too good position to sell at this stage - this site is growing no point selling now.
Posted by: John | Jan 17, 2008 10:42:05 AM
That's not possible. It's just a lie.
Posted by: Eva | Jan 17, 2008 10:45:22 AM
