Viacom buying Neopets?
Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:09 am
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... 147093.cms
Not too much info, but it kind of makes you wonder what the reprecussions might be...
Not too much info, but it kind of makes you wonder what the reprecussions might be...
Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:14 am
Probably no repercussions that are visible to the general Neopets public.
Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:49 am
So where does this leave Dougie?
Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:00 pm
Sapphire Faerie wrote:So where does this leave Dougie?
Very very rich
Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:08 pm
mistressofdarkarts wrote:Sapphire Faerie wrote:So where does this leave Dougie?
Very very rich
As if he weren't rich enough already.
Let's go rob him.
Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:26 pm
Oh no...
Viacom, if I'm correct, owns CBS, MTV, VH1, BET, and Nickolodeon, along with all their sister stations (Noggin, MTV2, etc). They also own Paramount Pictures. So if this is true, expect the neo movie to be shelled out of Paramount.
Edit: 100th Post!
Viacom, if I'm correct, owns CBS, MTV, VH1, BET, and Nickolodeon, along with all their sister stations (Noggin, MTV2, etc). They also own Paramount Pictures. So if this is true, expect the neo movie to be shelled out of Paramount.
Edit: 100th Post!
Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:33 pm
Well, I'm glad that Doug Donut is gone, but I can see it bringing in a lot of bad outisde influences to the site... Hopefully Viacom will let TNT return the site to its former glory...
Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:48 pm
_B4U_ wrote:Well, I'm glad that Doug Donut is gone, but I can see it bringing in a lot of bad outisde influences to the site... Hopefully Viacom will let TNT return the site to its former glory...
If they want to make money, Viacom is likely going to milk Neopets dry
Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:51 pm
viacom is known for shutting fansites down
Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:53 pm
Viacom has bought a lot of businesses and kept them responsible and viable.
Plus, it has a huge amount of money behind it. If a large company were to buy neopets, expect the top and bottom ads to be the first things to go, after Doug Dohring.
Plus, it has a huge amount of money behind it. If a large company were to buy neopets, expect the top and bottom ads to be the first things to go, after Doug Dohring.
Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:55 pm
Illyria wrote:viacom is known for shutting fansites down
However with Neopets they have a fansite agreement that allows fansites for the property, it would seem very contradictory of them to make it null and void.
Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:02 pm
No wonder the boards are going insane. Haha. If Neopets were to be bought over... it woulc cause much chaos.. yikes
Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:36 pm
Not really. I'm more amused by the $160 million they're buying Neopets for. Yes, I know there's costs inherent in maintaining Neopets and all it's ventures, but it's nice to have a quotable figure to give overzealous people who throw fits whenever someone says anything less than glowing about Neopets and screams "But it's free!" Neopets is free, but they sure as hell wouldn't be around today if they weren't making money from us.
I'm hoping someone in the upper management at Viacom will want to use Neopets to make long term cash and as a result finally have the sense enough to improve customer support and ensure people will actually want to continuing playing the game.
But, I'm not holding my breath.
I'm hoping someone in the upper management at Viacom will want to use Neopets to make long term cash and as a result finally have the sense enough to improve customer support and ensure people will actually want to continuing playing the game.
But, I'm not holding my breath.
Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:46 pm
I just read the article and saw this:
Right now, Neo is a privately held company, meaning no one can buy stock. If it's made public, does that mean that people (if they wanted to gamble on an internet site) could actually buy stock in Neo?
That could mean that Viacom would have an incentive to keep the site up, running and their members/customers happy.
The only thing that bugs me, and it bugs me whenever there's an article about Neopets, is:
Why? Because there are ALOT of adults on the site. A friend just celebrated her 57th birthday Saturday, and most (I think) of the premium members are adults as well as younger people who got permission to use Mom or Dad's paypal or credit card - and most of them are paying out of their allowance or their own jobs.
What this ultimately means for Neopets and all of us? Who knows, probably not even Viacom. I truly hope it DOES spell the end of bannerzilla. On the other hand I truly hope it doesn't mean the site will go completely or almost completely pay-to-play. That I think would be a very bad business decision. I don't know what the numbers are for paying game sites, but I don't think any of them have the sheer numbers that Neo does, even taking multiple/abandoned/frozen accounts into account.
It could mean alot more sponsor games, which wouldn't bother me in the least. Those I can usually play, if nothing else. And it is a way to advertise the latest movie/show/CD.
Shutting down fansites? Another really bad business decision, IMHO. I would have a hard time understanding shutting these down. Fansites can do alot to help make or break a site/movie/tv show. If push came to shove and they did say no one could have a site that says it's a Neopets fansite or help site, then I'm going to guess alot of the sites will change their name and leave the word Neopets off of their site. Then if people did have a separate forum for Neopets, well, it would just be something people happened to talk about on that particular site.
The other truly, horribly bad decision that could (and I hope won't) be made is to try to boot Adam and Donna. They are integral, very important people. Without them first of all there'd be no Neopets. And I truly believe that they have our best interests at heart and try to do everything they can. Perhaps Viacom will leave them to it -- running the site, giving them a budget so they can actually hire more staff to help the site run more smoothly and give us more support. That would be a win-win situation.
Chakra, I haven't been to the boards, so I don't know what's being said. I do know there's still alot of people who will argue that Adam and Donna own Neopets, even when they're told that they haven't for a long time, give Doug's name, etc. I don't know why that seems to get people so crazed, but it does.
Last week, Viacom said its board approved the spin-off of its cable networks and film studios as a separate, publicly traded company from its slower growing television and radio businesses.
Right now, Neo is a privately held company, meaning no one can buy stock. If it's made public, does that mean that people (if they wanted to gamble on an internet site) could actually buy stock in Neo?
That could mean that Viacom would have an incentive to keep the site up, running and their members/customers happy.
The only thing that bugs me, and it bugs me whenever there's an article about Neopets, is:
Viacom agrees to buy Neopets
REUTERS[ MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2005 09:40:43 AM]
NEW YORK: Viacom Inc has agreed to buy children's web company Neopets, Inc in a deal valued at $160 million, the media reported on Sunday. The deal would help Viacom extend its strength in children's television programming to the Internet, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Why? Because there are ALOT of adults on the site. A friend just celebrated her 57th birthday Saturday, and most (I think) of the premium members are adults as well as younger people who got permission to use Mom or Dad's paypal or credit card - and most of them are paying out of their allowance or their own jobs.
What this ultimately means for Neopets and all of us? Who knows, probably not even Viacom. I truly hope it DOES spell the end of bannerzilla. On the other hand I truly hope it doesn't mean the site will go completely or almost completely pay-to-play. That I think would be a very bad business decision. I don't know what the numbers are for paying game sites, but I don't think any of them have the sheer numbers that Neo does, even taking multiple/abandoned/frozen accounts into account.
It could mean alot more sponsor games, which wouldn't bother me in the least. Those I can usually play, if nothing else. And it is a way to advertise the latest movie/show/CD.
Shutting down fansites? Another really bad business decision, IMHO. I would have a hard time understanding shutting these down. Fansites can do alot to help make or break a site/movie/tv show. If push came to shove and they did say no one could have a site that says it's a Neopets fansite or help site, then I'm going to guess alot of the sites will change their name and leave the word Neopets off of their site. Then if people did have a separate forum for Neopets, well, it would just be something people happened to talk about on that particular site.
The other truly, horribly bad decision that could (and I hope won't) be made is to try to boot Adam and Donna. They are integral, very important people. Without them first of all there'd be no Neopets. And I truly believe that they have our best interests at heart and try to do everything they can. Perhaps Viacom will leave them to it -- running the site, giving them a budget so they can actually hire more staff to help the site run more smoothly and give us more support. That would be a win-win situation.
Chakra, I haven't been to the boards, so I don't know what's being said. I do know there's still alot of people who will argue that Adam and Donna own Neopets, even when they're told that they haven't for a long time, give Doug's name, etc. I don't know why that seems to get people so crazed, but it does.
Last edited by everconfused on Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:50 pm
If viacom makes it P2P, then I'm out, that much is for sure.