BAT has been sold

[Unobtanium-inc]

This should get interesting!

---Adam

[LiveFromNY]

And for a huge number. Good for them.

[LongRanger]

'. . . we have decided to partner with a great company who knows how to scale and reach vast audiences. Hearst Communications needs no introduction, being the owner of hundreds of successful companies and a long-game approach in everything from data to TV to advertising. They own some of our all-time favorite magazines in Road & Track, Car and Driver, and Autoweek. By tapping in to their engineering and operational capabilities, we will add new features and deliver our services faster. In short, we will maintain all the best parts of BaT while fortifying our product and gaining access to vast new audiences . . .'

https://bringatrailer.com/2020/06/25...-autos-family/




............

[NorthernThrux]

Honestly, I surprised RM Sotheby or one of the other auction houses didn’t snap them up a lot earlier. Or even Hagerty.

Good on them. I imagine the caps on commissions and the cost to advertise will all change upwards shortly.

[Bullethead]

Met Randy and his dad at the Historics, started commenting under my initials in 2007. Between 2009 and 2011 had the most fun posting automotive hiakus in an attempt to capture what a particular car might be in it's previous or future life. There are only so many times one can repeat the same pedantic rote on what one is knowledgeable about without sounding kinda dickish, and besides, many cars look like they want >or need< to tell their story.

It's a pleasure to see something that really did create a new niche for collectors and hobbyists reward it's founder's considerable efforts. A toast to their success!

[bob joyce]

well deserved ... I'm hooked on bring a trailer.

[Arne]

Not sure what Randy's overhead is, but they do pretty well even with the lower fees and the $5k cap. I figured that the auctions that sold (not the ones that failed to clear reserve) today (25 June 2020) generated ~$62k in buyer premiums. If that is an average day (I have no idea and don't want to spend the time to figure it out), that's about $300k per week. Round down a bit and you could conservatively say that they have pulling a million plus monthly. Not bad. Wish I'd thought of that first...

[KennethClay]

And for a huge number. Good for them.

Where did you see the number (and what was it)? Been looking for the deal stats, but haven't found them yet.

[ejboyd5]

We can only hope that Hearst does not ruin BAT like they did with Road & Track and Car and Driverby directing their new product to the less intelligent members of the audience. In their headlong effort to "appeal." Hearst has made both magazines unreadable.

[LiveFromNY]

Where did you see the number (and what was it)?

It wasn't released publicly to my knowledge and not at liberty to disclose. Sorry.