Haymarket agrees sale of PistonHeads to CarGurus

[jeremyc]

Blackpuddin said:

Anything on here to suggest when this is happening?

CarGurus said:

The proposed sale is expected to close in early 2019, subject to satisfaction of certain closing conditions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

[Eyersey1234]

I hope the forums don't disappear.

[funkyrobot]

jeremyc said:

Blackpuddin said:

Anything on here to suggest when this is happening?

CarGurus said:

The proposed sale is expected to close in early 2019, subject to satisfaction of certain closing conditions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

I knew there was something big happening next year.

[AC123]

How much £ did they pay?

[Siy]

So, to our new owners-to-be, we have four pages (so far) of regular users , pretty much overwhelmingly happy about a change in ownership. However, a distrust or fear that under new ownership, these valued forums may eventually disappear, as the cost will be greater than expected to run.

I am sure in concluding such a deal, Car Guru must have looked at our 'prized pages', and hopefully understand quite what is required to run them. I for one am a Luddite and have no understanding whatsoever of these intricacies.

I think we should as a collective, give them some credit - and hope that they are keen to keep these pages going. I am sure there will be changes, but if we can be proactive in working with them, hopefully we could see things change for the better? Or I am just being too optimistic?

Edited by Siy on Tuesday 4th December 12:41

[funkyrobot]

Eyersey1234 said:

It's started.

[rallycross]

I hope they find the old code from how the PH classifieds used to be and fix the useless mess that is the current attempt at a classified section.

[funkyrobot]

AC123 said:

How much £ did they pay?

A quid is the going rate for these sort of things, isn't it?

[Tj13e11]

funkyrobot said:

AC123 said:

How much £ did they pay?

A quid is the going rate for these sort of things, isn't it?

Aye, and the GBP isn't doing too well cause brexit so it was prime time for them to get here

[ZOLLAR]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I tend to be a positive fellow but I think I'll have to agree with you, I find it unlikely they'll want to keep the forums going.
It would probably be easier to scrap it and start again but what's the benefit for them? they want the advert side of it all.

If they did relaunch it I don't think it would aimed at car enthusiasts, more likely be aimed at mainstream with articles like "How to fill your fuel tank up" or "Which is the cutest car on the market"

I fear the end is nigh for the PH we know at present.

[Krikkit]

Eyersey1234 said:

I hope the forums don't disappear.

When buying a site like PH they will be highly aware of the forums and the associated community - that's what makes PH over other aspects.

If they wanted a classifieds only they would've bought AT or Carandclassic.

[giger]

A tech overhaul would be very welcome, but I guess part of the current appeal is the dated forum layout (!). My biggest concern would be that if CarGurus are looking at floating on the Nasdaq, share value and keeping shareholders happy will be at the top of the priority list - can controversial forums co-exist with a Nasdaq listed share? I guess the classifieds will also go up...

[eybic]

I really think a lot of the old skool users think there's much more value in the forum than there actually is. The forums make no money other than ads served and will cost to have moderation done etc. I'd be very surprised if in 12 months, the forums still exist

[anonymous-user]

Siy said:

So, to our new owners-to-be, we have four pages (so far) of regular users , pretty much overwhelmingly happy about a change in ownership. However, a distrust or fear that under new ownership, these valued forums may eventually disappear, as the cost will be greater than expected to run.

I am sure in concluding such a deal, Car Guru must have looked at our 'prized pages', and hopefully understand quite what is required to run them. I for one am a Luddite and have no understanding whatsoever of these intricacies.

I think we should as a collective, give them some credit - and hope that they are keen to keep these pages going. I am sure they will be changes, but if we can be proactive in working with them, hopefully we could see things change for the better? Or I am just being too optimistic?

I think you are giving Cargurus far too much credit, I suspect they haven't got a clue what they have actually bought beyond how many visitors this site gets a month.

I suspect they took one look at the number of site hits and the fact that there is a classified section, put two and two together and came out with five. I would bet that 99% of the people on this forum never look at he classifieds when looking to buy a car.

Forums will definitely go, no professional company is going to want posts mentioning "Powerfully built directors" , "dominating the stairs", "Throw a can of Red Bull at him", "hammer frozen sausages into his front lawn" "Custard" or the million and one other PH in jokes.

Can you imagine threads like this being allowed to exist? https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=91...

[Tj13e11]

eybic said:

I really think a lot of the old skool users think there's much more value in the forum than there actually is. The forums make no money other than ads served and will cost to have moderation done etc. I'd be very surprised if in 12 months, the forums still exist

there are always mods who do it voluntarily, the community it what keeps it thriving. it never made money but they kept it here didn't they?

[Uggers]

Can they stop me been randomly logged out of the site?

If they do, then they will have achieved more than Haymarket ever did with the forums.

[Vaud]

giger said:

can controversial forums co-exist with a Nasdaq listed share? I guess the classifieds will also go up...

It's not that controversial. By comparison, big firms have 500m+ account data leaks and carry on.

[easytiger123]

Krikkit said:

Eyersey1234 said:

I hope the forums don't disappear.

When buying a site like PH they will be highly aware of the forums and the associated community - that's what makes PH over other aspects.

If they wanted a classifieds only they would've bought AT or Carandclassic.

You'd hope so. Certainly the only reason I look at the PH classifieds (and have a actually bought a car I saw advertised on here) is because I enjoy the forums and it's a click away to browse the ads. Would be illogical to buy a business and then dismantle a big part what attracts potential car buyers and thus advertisers.

That said I've been around long enough to see some bizarre decisions by new owners basically destroy what they just payed for.

[SoovyAvant]

Beginning of the end.

Forums will undoubtedly be heavily redacted and censored.


Good while it lasted.

[anonymous-user]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I am on another forum (yes there is one) that now has US based owners. 90% of the the posts on PH would not be allowed on there now. The most innocent posts now get a pm asking you to reword it in a more acceptable way.