Martin Lewis sells Money Saving Expert website for £87 million

[CHAPPERS]

£35 million straight to him up front but then he's giving £10 million to charity including £1 million to the Citizens Advice Bureau.

 

[Bozza]

MoneySupermarket.com offered the same for NSC, but I knocked them back.

 

[Biscuit]

Top bloke. Well earnt.

 

[Badger]

They could have got it for £50million if they'd printed out the right voucher.

 

[Doc Lynam]

They should have shopped around!

 

[Northstandite]

MoneySupermarket.com offered the same for NSC, but I knocked them back.

Don't accept anything less than $1b. Great site.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

F*** me, it's Martha Lane Fox and LastMinute.com all over again.

Will people never learn........

 

[Bozza]

F*** me, it's Martha Lane Fox and LastMinute.com all over again.

Will people never learn........

You couldn't be more wrong chap.

£87m for a business that pulled in nearly £16m last year (which was 38% up on the previous year).

 

[KZNSeagull]

You couldn't be more wrong chap.

£87m for a business that pulled in nearly £16m last year (which was 38% up on the previous year).

Yup.

I know the guy who owns and runs Moneyweb - he gets a cheque from google ads every month for R150,000. No idea how much he gets from other advertising, syndication etc, but that cannot be too shabby!

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

You couldn't be more wrong chap.

£87m for a business that pulled in nearly £16m last year (which was 38% up on the previous year).

But what exactly is the USP of MoneySavingExpert? A. Martin Lewis.

If I were running MoneySupermarket.com my strategy would be to set up a rival site, it would be a fraction of the cost. You're not seriously trying to convince me that Martin Lewis is the only person with financial expertise.......

This is what happened to LastMinute shares after they floated on the stock exchange. IMHO MoneySavingExpert is ludicrously overvalued.

 

[Springal]

Selling for 5x the turnover seems quite common in the UK at the moment. A client of mine just sold for £40m, on a £6-8m turn over.

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

Selling for 5x the turnover seems quite common in the UK at the moment. A client of mine just sold for £40m, on a £6-8m turn over.

So what, current turnover is no guarentee of future performance, especially if a rival comes along with a better product than what you have to offer.

Everybody used to rave about Friends Reunited until Mark Zuckerberg came along with something better.

 

[Dominoid]

You're not seriously trying to convince me that Martin Lewis is the only person with financial expertise.......

He's not, but Sellotape aren't the only manufacturer or sticky backed plastic, nor are Google the only search engine or Apple the only manufacturer of phones, but their names are worth more in some cases than the products, which don't necessarily have to be the highest quality compared to the competition to make the most money. Once a brand is established as quality, then it takes something very special to knock it off that perch.

 

[Bozza]

But what exactly is the USP of MoneySavingExpert? A. Martin Lewis.

If I were running MoneySupermarket.com my strategy would be to set up a rival site, it would be a fraction of the cost. You're not seriously trying to convince me that Martin Lewis is the only person with financial expertise.......

This is what happened to LastMinute shares after they floated on the stock exchange. IMHO MoneySavingExpert is ludicrously overvalued.

I don't follow it closely and rarely visit the site, but it strikes me that the site is a whole load more than Martin Lewis. I imagine most traffic goes via the forums where, like NSC, the content is user generated.

Anyone could put the weekly newsletter together, sure, but MSE does and MSE has 5m+ opted in email addresses to send the newsletters to. They have massive first mover advantage.

Martin Lewis is staying on as Editor-in-chief and he will be £27m richer if he meets performance targets - that's going to keep him around for a while.

I'm sure he'll leave in due course and move onto something else. I'm sure moneysupermarket.com will have him tied up legally to stop him just starting a rival as soon as he walks out the door.

 

[BigGully]

They could have got it for £50million if they'd printed out the right voucher.

That made me chuckle ......

 

[Vegas Seagull]

So what, current turnover is no guarentee of future performance, especially if a rival comes along with a better product than what you have to offer.

Everybody used to rave about Friends Reunited until Mark Zuckerberg came along with something better.

How many businesses have you evaluated & bought?

 

[Bozza]

Shame. Was a really useful resource that saved me money several times down the line.

Now I suspect it will become a website driven by its own financial interests, rather than the financial interests of the consumer who it is meant to be advising.

You need to read the press release then - they are retaining a fully independent editorial stance.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

How much is NSC worth...?

 

[Wozza]

So what, current turnover is no guarentee of future performance, especially if a rival comes along with a better product than what you have to offer.

Yeah, makes you wonder why a business ever buys another company.

Everybody used to rave about Friends Reunited until Mark Zuckerberg came along with something better.

Friends Reunited was dying/dead before Facebook came along. FR didn't give users a reason to go back regularly, which is the genius of Facebook.

MSE has a HUGE, loyal community, which is impossible to build overnight.

 

[Titanic]

How much is NSC worth...?

NSC is priceless.

or $21835 apparently...

northstandchat.com is worth 21,835 US $