On behalf of the 25 million licence fee payers, I would like to congratulate the BBC for losing another £80 million (or £3.20 for each of us) on its ill-thought-out purchase of Lonely Planet.
The Beeb bought the first 75% of the hippy-go-lucky travel guides business in 2007 and acquired the final 25% as recently as 2011. Total purchase price: £130 million.
Today, it has sold the lot for just £51 million.
The original purchase caused outrage not least among the likes of Time Out publisher Tony Elliott and Guardian Media. They, quite rightly, felt it was none of the BBC’s business to buy an existing brand to help build its online business in the commercial world. The fact is, under the BBC’s ownership, the business has suffered as online rivals such as TripAdvisor and indeed Time Out have stolen market share.
It is hard to see what benefits the BBC or the licence-fee payer has made from this ill-judged purchase.
