As you may or may not be aware, Silicon Investor and Investors Hub have just been acquired by Advanced Financial Networks (“ADVFN”, ticker AFN.L), a London-based firm specializing in high-end, feature-rich financial content. Though they’re based in the UK, their customer base is very global, including many US-based customers.
We have been approached by numerous companies who have wanted to acquire us over the years, but ADVFN immediately looked like a great partnership to us. More of a “parent” than owners. They’ll provide us a lot of things that will be very valuable to both sites, both in terms of features, and increasing our size and marketshare. We’ll provide them far greater visibility in the States.
As our London counterparts are fond of saying, and we strongly agree, the most immediate change we’ll make is “Nothing”. You don’t fix what isn’t broken, don’t mess with the crown jewels, and when it comes to online communities, you NEVER bring about sudden, radical change, even when it’s an improvement.
Aside from new ownership, there are other corporate structure changes, but they shouldn’t radically change the way we’ve always operated. We’ve always been a group of hard-core, message-board-loving mules who rely heavily on each other.
We’ll largely continue to operate and cooperate as we always have.
We’ll soon have access to ADVFN’s superior charting and quotes tools. Something else that’ll happen immediately is the hiring of a programmer I’ve known for a long time and who is far better than I am, and it’ll be a full-time job for him, rather than something that was done when I could find the time for it. The bug fixes and feature additions should be forthcoming rather quickly. He hasn’t even started yet, but has a big to-do list.
I also won’t be tied up in ad sales anymore, either. I’ll be able to be a lot more active in the operation of the sites rather than simply the business side of them, and will finally be able to aggressively pursue some related projects that’ve been near and dear to my heart, but I’ve lacked the time and funding to make reality. ADVFN is 100% behind me on these other projects, not only through their words, but through their actions. Specifically, their acquiring other sites that are outside the Finance area.
For those who’ve suffered through my words for years, you know that I’m speaking of Talkzilla. Even before the dust has settled, I will be on the acquisition trail for established sites we can incorporate into our structure and business model. The first area will be my first love: Cars.
To sum up, things have changed, but they’ll largely remain the same. We are satisfied that our new owners/partners want exactly what we’ve always wanted. For us to be bigger and better.
Here’s to the future of our sites. It’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.
Bob Zumbrunnen
