Is this goodbye to Lonely Planet?

[n2doc]

by Bronwen Clune

After the most recent announcement, it was clear that something was being lost – for travel writers a way of being, for travelers a way of doing, and for Melbourne the demise of one its most successful and adored home-grown companies.

It was there that the empire was co-founded by Tony and Maureen Wheeler in the 1970s, originally as a travel guide “Across Asia on the cheap”. It grew after the publication of their best-selling guide to India in 1981. Up until 1979, Maureen Wheeler said “all the books were stored in this little tin shed out the back and under the beds and everywhere else. It was a very amateur, home-grown business.”

With around one-third of the mostly editorial staff being made redundant, it was clear that after its sale by BBC Worldwide in March this year, the company was being uprooted and shunted from its home despite earlier assurances this would not happen.

The Age reports morale has been low ever since announcement of the sale to Nashville-based NC2 Media, whose major shareholder is a reclusive Kentucky-born businessman, Brad Kelley, who made a Forbes 400 fortune in discounted cigarettes. Its executive director and Lonely Planet’s chief executive is 24-year old Daniel Houghton, who only recently graduated from university. Through the multiple sales of the company, the company has progressively moved further away from its Melbourne base and the visions of its co-founders.

There have been reports that, with the recent job loss announcements, NC2 has asserted that Lonely Planet “were no longer in the business of content creation" and they would be focusing on a digital strategy, though they have to date denied ceasing book publication altogether. Apart from the usual corporate jargon (“These changes will allow us to liberate the enormous potential the business has moving forward”), it smacks of the end of an era.

more

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/22/lonely-planet-melbourne-staff

Another victim of Vulture Capitalism

[broiles]

1. Tragic. We have been all over the world with Lonely Planet.

I don't want digital content when I'm traveling in some remote place. I want a thumb worn book with lots of sticky notes. Internet access is not universal by a long shot.

[emsimon33]

2. Yes: Another victim of Vulture Capitalism!