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Nautilus to be acquired by an investor group of fans
- unlinked_dll 7y ago"Group of fans" is a weird way to describe serial entrepreneurs and angel investors. I'm sure they like the product. There's only one person on that list without a background in finance/investing, who happens to be the spouse of another person on the list. Congrats on the exit, I just think it's odd to describe the acquiring party that way.
- yowlingcat 7y agoIs it? While "syndicate" might have been a more succinct and accurate way of describing that group, it is a little bit uncommon. From most instances I can recall, acquisitions tend to be by a single corporate entity or a private equity fund of some kind. Unless such an entity existed prior to this acquisition, it does seem a bit out of the ordinary.
- unlinked_dll 7y agoI think ownership groups aren't uncommon in the small business world (as in not-startups, like family businesses). Totally different world but that's how sports teams' acquisitions are handled these days.
- yowlingcat 7y agoWow, that's fascinating -- I don't know too much about sports team acquisitions but it's pretty cool if that's how they work. If this is something you know more about, would you mind going into more detail about how that works?
- unlinked_dll 7y agoHistorically teams (in the US) have been owned by a single person. But today, a sports team acquisition involves a 10-figure transaction and possibly the construction of a stadium if there's a move, which could also be in the low 10-figures. There are not that many individuals who can afford to buy a team by themselves. That's why they form ownership groups with a lead investor to be the "owner" face of the team (and sometimes, they'll get big names as minority stakeholders to give them legitimacy). An example of this is when an ownership group bought the Miami Marlins [1]. [1] https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/boston-red-sox/derek-jeter-group-buys-miami-marlins-12-billion https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/boston-red-sox/derek-jeter-... One difference with sports teams is that some members of the ownership group do it for vanity/ego/pride as much as an investment opportunity. There's a lot of prestige in having ownership of a major sports franchise, not only because it's incredibly expensive but because the opportunity to purchase a stake is not common and the entire ownership group is subject to approval from all the other owners in the league. So you can't just buy a team, you have to be ok'd by all the other teams.
- skinnymuch 7y agoThe valuation of sports teams for the big 4 (and especially big 3 in terms of big numbers) has skyrocketed. It is quite possible from here on out that no NBA or MLB team will be sold for less than $1B total valuation. And no NFL team for under $2B. It’s a lot for individuals to pay. It’s rare for teams to be owned by companies or funds like the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. But even that holding company has one guy owning a third of it. Or NFL’s Green Bay Packers being a public company. Most leagues also have requirements for how much of the team can be paid for with debt, loans, etc. For a perspective on how crazy the skyrocketing valuations are, NBA and MLB teams outside major markets were going for under $500M and NFL teams for way under $1B. Major market teams were still going for a lot like NFL’s Washington DC Redskins went for over a billion 20 years ago, but even just five years ago the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks went for around $500M. Now that they have a new stadium, sometimes that stuff is conditional on the purchase, their value has probably doubled (along with currently being a championship contender with an MVP superstar entering his prime). At this point, almost no individuals can take on a whole team purchase on their own. Or be able to pay up a higher price on their own. Exceptions are also people wildly richer than most owners like Steve Ballmer who’s around top 15 richest people and paid handsomely for the NBA’s LA Clippers, though he will also profit off it as well. Many, if not most, current big 3 majority owners would not be able to afford their own team if you looked at their net worth outside the team.
- formercoder 7y agoJust the deals you regularly hear about in the news. JVs and multi fund buyers are not at all unheard of.
- yowlingcat 7y agoI said the same thing in another sibling comment, but I'd love to hear more if you've got some experience in the space and are willing to share!
- ehnto 7y agoIt made me think it was a group of intrepid readers who got together to invest, which is a much more interesting story than career investors being a fan of a thing they're investing in.
- rhizome 7y agoTo be sure, it's their wording.
- wutbrodo 7y ago"fast-growing science brand poised for growth", "the literary science magazine with more than 10 thousand monthly paying subscribers and an online reach of more than 10 million" Between the marketing numbers and the weird detached third-person references to Nautilus, this is written like a marketing pitch, not an acquisition announcement. It's very weird
- ComodoHacker 7y agoIt's a marketing pitch for the next exit!
- mellosouls 7y agoYeah, I've been a fan of it for a few years, but I must have missed the invite on that one.
- dang 7y agoOk, we've put investors in the title in the way that the article does in its first sentence.
- kiba 7y agoSo it becomes a business, which will focus on generating profit from the magazine, thus Nautilus will become yet another bog standard science magazine subjected to the same structures as other magazines. And we all know that consumers don't fork enough money to support ads-free journalism, which leads to perverse incentives.
- usmannk 7y ago> hus Nautilus will become yet another bog standard science magazine ~subjected to the same structures as other magazines~ that will hopefully pay its contributors now! https://undark.org/2017/12/13/freelance-writers-nautilus-payment/ https://undark.org/2017/12/13/freelance-writers-nautilus-pay...
- nautilus 7y agoPart of the acquisition includes a plan to pay all the contributors debt in full.
- kristjankalm 7y ago> And we all know that consumers don't fork enough money to support ads-free journalism, which leads to perverse incentives. yes they do. susbcription-based models are doing quite well. besides the big heavyweights, in UK alone there are several smaller and successful subscription-based magazines: the TLS, the economist, the spectator etc. in us sports there's 'the athletic' and its clones.
- ndarwincorn 7y ago> 'the athletic' and its clones None of which have actually taken off their runway as far as I know.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoIndeed. This is the first time I've heard of it.
- rwio 7y agoAm I reading this correctly? It sounds like a group of angel investors. Not "superfans."
- bovermyer 7y agoThe two terms are not mutually exclusive.
- skinnymuch 7y agoSure. But like talked about above, sports teams are also usually bought by fans. It would be weird to state those purchases that way though.
- s_dev 7y agoThe investors probably don't see or expect any real RoI. It's Nautil.us -- there is no real money to be made from that site.
- seren 7y agoThis is the second time I see a link on HN, mentioning Hypergiant industries. Their website [0] and their algae bioreactor page [1] is so over the top that it looks fake. I assume this is real company selling real solutions (consulting) but this is puzzling nonetheless. Look at the case study, "ROD LIFT INVENTORY SYSTEM" [2], they replaced a few excel sheets by an application with a database, this is great for the customer, but not earth shattering either. [0] https://www.hypergiant.com/ https://www.hypergiant.com/ [1] https://www.hypergiant.com/green/ https://www.hypergiant.com/green/ [2] https://www.hypergiant.com/client/rod-lift-inventory-system-ai-consulting/ https://www.hypergiant.com/client/rod-lift-inventory-system-...
- notacoward 7y agoYep, that's a serious Aperture Labs vibe there. Or maybe (even worse) Faro Automated Solutions. Very techno-utopian, as though things like ethics and unintended consequences don't exist. Scary.
- whatshisface 7y agoScary? It looks like it was made by an excited teenager.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- jaimehrubiks 7y agoActually it is one of the best file explorers out there, I'm sure they will take in on the right track.
- usrme 7y agoThis is one of those rare occasions that it might be worth your while to read the actual article...
- dredmorbius 7y agoGiven numerous uses of the term, a modicum of specificity in the title would help. There are even multiple publishing-related instances. Though as a science fictional character myself, I'm partial to Vernes's. Which might make for an even more interesting story ;-) "Nautilus Magazine" being a good start. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus_(disambiguation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus_(disambiguation)
- uoaei 7y agoWhat else helps is not assuming you know the content of TFA from its title.
- dredmorbius 7y agoI half suspect the original comment was a subtle dig at the ambiguity itself.
- big_chungus 7y agoPersonally, I prefer nnn: https://github.com/jarun/nnn https://github.com/jarun/nnn Very fast, good keyboard navigation, etc. Highly recommend.
- rajibsingh 7y agoimagine the profits if you can get users to pay per file opened
- 7y ago
- aspectmin 7y agoThis makes me happy. I Enjiy reading both Nautilus and Quanta. Great articles.
- burundi_coffee 7y agoI thought this was about the filemanager
- wblondel 7y agoHahaha same
- tomc1985 7y agoNautilus was good when they started but at some point they seemed to switch to the sort of frothy, inspirational pop-science-as-spiritualism dreck that belongs in Newsweek or Fox News, but with a tiny bit more depth
- stingraycharles 7y agoOn top of the content, I was a paid subscriber during 2017-2018, and I received maybe 20% of the editions I was supposed to receive. Probably due to international shipping and their liquidity problems, but it still felt bad.
- MrDrone 7y agoI had the same problem - but US based. I reached out to their support as they recently sent me an email and they comped me a year of their Prime plan. It was nice of them but kind of too little too late.
- valvar 7y agoI never received my issues, so I disputed on PayPal. They never responded to the dispute so I won it automatically after a month or whatever it was. Then, a year later, I received some issues in the mail. Bizarre.
- DanCarvajal 7y ago> inspirational pop-science-as-spiritualism This is the best description of this type of science writing I've encountered.
- tomc1985 7y agoI heard the term somewhere, and when I read an article praising science that read suspiciously like the religious tracts that were forced upon me as a kid, I was done
- SchoolboyBlue 7y agoI spent $100 on subscriptions a few years ago for Christmas gifts and never received anything. Still annoyed at that.
- SchoolboyBlue 7y agoI spent $100 on subscriptions a couple Christmases ago. Never received any product nor was I able to get in contact with anyone at the company. Really turned me off since I was a big fan of their content and already had a yearly subscription.
- throwawaysea 7y agoWow that is really disappointing. I recently picked up a copy myself and really liked the print magazine. I was debating subscribing but there are several people in the comment section with the same story about not receiving issues.
- nautilus 7y agoI'm sorry you were not able to get through to us...or to get your magazines. Please send your details to me at john.steele@nautilusdigitalmedia.com and we will make it right.
- SchoolboyBlue 7y agothanks! just sent you an email :)
- desireco42 7y agoI really like Nautilus. I have been subscriber in the past, I got my magazines and they were awesome. I am worried they might lose quality once they need to produce profit, however "fan" those investors are. But that is life and if they do, there will be something else.
- hiei 7y agoLarry Summers, 71st Secretary of the Treasury, former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus, Harvard University. this is the guy who was just featured in that article on bill gates rubbing elbows with Jeffrey Epstein.
- joshdilworth 7y agoI’m one of the new co-owners. All of us are longtime subscribers. This is about love for the magazine and its mission first and last. We’re not going to change Nautilus. We just want to get it into the hands of many more people. We do think we can navigate Nautilus to a sustainable place for the long haul; the market is there and the product is fabulous. We just need to operate it precisely and keep investing in great writing, editing, and art. Nothing fancy, just running it right and for the right reasons.
- emit_time 7y ago13 year old account with 13 karma. Wow!
- newscracker 7y agoI didn't see anything in the announcement about existing subscriptions and how they'd change. I'm interested in knowing what may happen to lifetime digital subscribers. I can understand it being removed and something else put in place, but the question would be "at what price?"