Lonely Planet not for sale

The BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide (BBCWW), has no plans to sell Lonely Planet.

The company officially stated this following claims in the UK national press that a sale was on the cards. 

“BBCWW has no plans to sell the highly successful Lonely Planet travel information business. It is not up for sale, full stop,” it said.

BBC Worldwide paid £90m for Lonely Planet in October 2007.

This week it also emerged that the Australian founders of Lonely Planet, Tony and Maureen Wheeler, who retained a 25 percent stake, had been allowed to extend an option they have to sell their share to the BBC. This prompted speculation that the move has been made because the Wheelers are expecting the BBC to sell Lonely Planet and they hope to buy it back for less than they sold it.

Tony Elliott, the chairman of rival travel publisher Time Out, told The Times earlier this week that he had been told by “reliable sources” that the BBC was gearing up to sell the Lonely Planet business when it completes a strategy review next year.