DPReview was a widely respected independent site for 20 years. A few years ago it was bought by Amazon, who did put a bit of money in it, but have now decided to kill it, presumably to save a few quid.
It would have continued forever independently, with staff doing it for the love and the free lenses.
This is a sad example - it seems to happen a lot - of specialised niche media that was run with passion by genuine enthusiasts, but then bought and ruined by a big investor with no interest in the subject, or indeed (I suspect) the people.
I am thankful every day that UKClimbing Ltd has followed a more long-termist path by becoming an Employee Ownership Trust.
> This is a sad example - it seems to happen a lot - of specialised niche media that was run with passion by genuine enthusiasts, but then bought and ruined by a big investor with no interest in the subject, or indeed (I suspect) the people.
> I am thankful every day that UKClimbing Ltd has followed a more long-termist path by becoming an Employee Ownership Trust.
For what it's worth, there's a Change.org petition running gathering signatures in an effort to persuade Amazon not to be quite so destructive of useful content: https://chng.it/TbhZTytNtj
> DPReview was a widely respected independent site for 20 years. A few years ago it was bought by Amazon, who did put a bit of money in it
To be fair it was brought in 2007 so has been owned longer than its been independent. I remember being surprised about 2010 or so when someone said amazon owned it since it was pretty low visibility.
Unfortunately the interest rate changes which is making VCs reevaluate their investments and the over expansion of online businesses during the stay home boom during the various covid restrictions is hitting a lot of tech companies hard.
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