Internet Brands Inc to be acquired by Hellman & Friedman Stockholders for $640million

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  • Ryan Ashbrook
    Senior Member
    • May 2003
    • 1967

    #91
    Originally posted by c0bra
    Is there anybody left working on vBulletin who was part of the dream team that delivered vBulletin 3.0.0?
    Freddie.
    Ryan Ashbrook - My Blog - My Twitter

    Comment

    • Uberguilds
      New Member
      • Jan 2007
      • 14

      #92
      Originally posted by Mark.B
      Hmmm...

      "Scott A. Friedman has been Chief Financial Officer of Internet Brands, Inc. since August 29, 2008"

      And the company buying them is called Hellman & Friedman.

      Coincidence?
      Tully M Friedman - Hellman & Friedman Partner (1984-97). In 1997, Friedman left the firm to found Friedman Fleischer & Lowe, a new private equity firm also based in San Francisco.

      Comment

      • c0bra
        Senior Member
        • Apr 2001
        • 294

        #93
        Originally posted by Lizard King
        So does Kier , Mike and Scott are the only developers that can develop a forum software ?
        Of course not. But as has been demonstrated since the IB acquisition played out, it is very difficult to recreate a team that shares the same amount of passion, vision, talent and chemistry as those who were part of Jelsoft during vBulletin's best days.

        I love a bad analogy. So let's take a rock band with original members who have a string of number one hits and sell out world tours. Suddenly the song writer, lead guitarist and drummer all decide they have had enough and quit the band. The lead singer wants to carry on so finds himself a bunch of new musicians to continue performing and releasing new music. Those new musicians may all know how to hold a musical instrument, write lyrics and perform in front of a audience, but it's never quite the same again. The chemistry just isn't there. The popularity of the group wanes, the new music is nowhere near as good, and their biggest fans pine for the days when the original bandmates were all together.

        I think the analogy works reasonably well. In the same way as those new musicians could play the same instruments as the old band members who quit, new coders will be found who know as much, if not more, about coding in PHP as the original Jelsoft development team. But will they ever gel together as a team as well as the original Jelsoft development team? It's very difficult.

        Comment

        • zelnik
          Senior Member
          • Aug 2008
          • 388
          • 4.2.X

          #94
          Originally posted by the geek
          Regardless... it spells "change" and unless you are happy with where vB has been since the Jelsoft sale, I would expect more optimism.

          So. Back to my original point. Change is good if you are unhappy with what you currently have.
          Thank god for this post I was tired of the end of the world or XF fanboy approach people have on this thread.

          We're all sick and tired of IB's approach to vBulletin and even if the soon to be owners decide the product isn't worth the headaches or profit it makes they will sell it to someone smaller who may take some pride in the product.

          Even if the worst happens and the product dies... There are other alternatives out there, sure we will all have to pay out yet again but at least it will be a less stressful experience than the IB one as there certainly isn't any worst run forum software out there at the moment.

          However it does amuse me greatly that there has been no "everything will be fine" post from the saviour of vBulletin namely Fabian yet.... Though I suspect he is more interested in his own future than ours at this time?
          Last edited by zelnik; Tue 21 Sep '10, 3:10am.

          Comment

          • ThorstenA
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2004
            • 3082
            • 4.0.x

            #95
            As a sidenote, on my community there are from time to time "concerning" threads like
            • "What are Thorstens real interests?"
            • "Is he in the mood of making money?"
            • "It seems we are not the bosses! Everything relies on him! The community is his property, not ours! We should say that loud and clear."
            • "What if Thorsten does something we do not want him to do?"


            I usually know what to do. And if I do not, these topics will not give me any useful guidance. These topics serve me no good. I will continue guide the community how I chose, anyway. These topics only make my community more insecure, so they do not serve the community any good.

            That said, I hope to see the product improve more and more.

            Comment

            • Mark.B
              vBulletin Support
              • Feb 2004
              • 24286
              • 6.0.X

              #96
              Originally posted by zelnik
              Thank god for this post I was tired of the end of the world or XF fanboy approach people have on this thread.

              We're all sick and tired of IB's approach to vBulletin and even if the soon to be owners decide the product isn't worth the headaches or profit it makes they will sell it to someone smaller who may take some pride in the product.

              Even if the worst happens and the product dies... There are other alternatives out there, sure we will all have to pay out yet again but at least it will be a less stressful experience than the IB one as there certainly isn't any worst run forum software out there at the moment.

              However it does amuse me greatly that there has been no "everything will be fine" post from the saviour of vBulletin namely Fabian yet.... Though I suspect he is more interested in his own future than ours at this time?
              Speak for yourself. A lot of people's livelihoods are invested in vB. "There are alternatives out there" doesn't work for everyone.
              MARK.B
              vBulletin Support
              ------------
              My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
              My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

              Comment

              • Ramsesx
                Senior Member
                • Aug 2005
                • 3254
                • 3.8.x

                #97
                Originally posted by the geek
                Why doom and gloom? IB has done very little positive for the vB brand over the last year so people should be celebrating like its 1999.

                Yes Mark, businesses exist to make a profit. Is that bad? I guess that you work for free?

                Any new business owner buys for strategic reasons (that was IB's rationale) or because they believe they can increase the profitability from the target company through increasing revenue and/or efficiency. To me, that means that it is just as plausible that the new owners see the potential in vB and will invest accordingly.

                Could it get worse? Not by much. So logic dictates it is more likely to get better.


                ... that or as was suggested - it will be sold off (which is STILL better than how it has been).
                This means, you didn't feel an improvement how they (IB) acted the last months?
                If that's the case, sure it can get only better now.
                But I think they did a better job and learned the lessons from the mistakes they made and so I had hope again it will come to an happy end for us all.
                The question may be, what do you expect could be better done by a change of ownership?
                More devs? Better devs? VB4 rewrite from scratch?
                And if they sell the vBulletin part again to the next firm (equity(?)) is that the right way to develop a software or isn't it essential to have a stable environment?
                .......

                Comment

                • Robbiefritz
                  Senior Member
                  • Oct 2008
                  • 328
                  • 4.2.X

                  #98
                  Originally posted by Mark.B
                  Speak for yourself. A lot of people's livelihoods are invested in vB. "There are alternatives out there" doesn't work for everyone.
                  Well said Mark. Somehow I feel like a buffalo in the middle of a herd and the buffalo on the outside edge got spooked and now there is confusion.

                  I too have been involved in mergers and buyouts. Some have gone well others not so. The best approach at the moment imo is that we remain level headed and approach this from a rational angle. I as well as others have an immense amount of time invested in my forum and realize that there are many businesses that support the vB community. It is on a smaller scale similar to the automotive industry in Detroit.

                  Sit back, let the dust settle and then start approaching this professionally. Folks here are panicking to some extent and I see a little aggression towards each other. This frustration has been brewing since the release of v4 it seems. I think we are in a pickle right now but I also feel that the negativity isn't going to benefit any of us.
                  [URL="http://unified4change.com"]unified4change.com[/URL="http://unified4change.com"]|[URL="http://allthingsgermany.com"]AllThingsGermany.com[/URL="http://allthingsgermany.com"]|[URL="http://beergodsgarage.com"]BeergodsGarage.com[/URL="http://beergodsgarage.com"]

                  Comment

                  • zelnik
                    Senior Member
                    • Aug 2008
                    • 388
                    • 4.2.X

                    #99
                    Originally posted by Mark.B
                    Speak for yourself. A lot of people's livelihoods are invested in vB. "There are alternatives out there" doesn't work for everyone.
                    If your "livelihood" doesn't stretch to be able to move to an alternative product then I hear McDonalds are hiring!

                    Comment

                    • Mark.B
                      vBulletin Support
                      • Feb 2004
                      • 24286
                      • 6.0.X

                      Originally posted by zelnik
                      If your "livelihood" doesn't stretch to be able to move to an alternative product then I hear McDonalds are hiring!
                      Well my livelihood does not depend on it but talk to someone like the owner of AVForums and see what they think about "oh you can just use an alternative". Many of these sites are heavily customised and it just isn't as simple as that.
                      MARK.B
                      vBulletin Support
                      ------------
                      My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
                      My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

                      Comment

                      • Tigurius
                        Senior Member
                        • May 2005
                        • 188

                        Man I should have bought INET stock when I was considering it

                        Comment

                        • zelnik
                          Senior Member
                          • Aug 2008
                          • 388
                          • 4.2.X

                          Originally posted by Mark.B
                          Well my livelihood does not depend on it but talk to someone like the owner of AVForums and see what they think about "oh you can just use an alternative". Many of these sites are heavily customised and it just isn't as simple as that.
                          That's business but as someone so young I imagine you wouldn't have that much experience of that. If your business can not adapt and you backed the wrong 'horse' (ie vbulletin) then you take it on the chin and move on or employ staff that can keep the old nag (vbulletin) running.

                          If anyone was that worried about not being able to move to an alternative product then they should have had the investment in the first place to create a bespoke product around their own needs and thus removing the element of having to rely on another company.

                          End of business class 101.

                          PS: Mighty impressed you have not mentioned XF in reply.. gold star!

                          Comment

                          • AdrianH
                            Senior Member
                            • Sep 2007
                            • 508

                            Originally posted by Mark.B
                            Well my livelihood does not depend on it but talk to someone like the owner of AVForums and see what they think about "oh you can just use an alternative". Many of these sites are heavily customised and it just isn't as simple as that.
                            1) It is more than clear from the drivel you have been posting that you have almost no business experience at all.The statements you have made today relating to private equity companies are truly laughable.

                            2)"but talk to someone like the owner of AVForums and see what they think " ..... I think you should be quiet and open your eyes for a while before you talk for other people and their intentions, you are simply making an ass of yourself.

                            Comment

                            • Mark.B
                              vBulletin Support
                              • Feb 2004
                              • 24286
                              • 6.0.X

                              Originally posted by CareyCrew
                              1) It is more than clear from the drivel you have been posting <snipped due to abuse>
                              I have ignored the rest of your post, as it contained abuse.

                              Feel free to disagree with my views, however, abuse is not called for.
                              MARK.B
                              vBulletin Support
                              ------------
                              My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
                              My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

                              Comment

                              • Loco.M
                                Senior Member
                                • Mar 2005
                                • 4319
                                • 3.5.x

                                now now kids, no need to fight
                                -- Web Developer for hire
                                ---Online Marketing Tools and Articles

                                Comment

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