Sunday, March 29, 2015
What they are not saying about Angie's List boycotting Indiana
The Left is all excited because Angie's List is "boycotting" Indiana over the state's new Religious Freedom law.
What they are not telling you is its stock price is down, it has posted losses for at least three years, and its plan to build a $40 million operation in Indianapolis required $18.5 million in tax incentives, which it lobbied for heavily this year. The boycott may be a cover story for a project that pancaked.
Angie's List is an online operation where people rate services and companies. Founded by Angie Hicks in 1995 with money from her boss, venture capitalist William S. Oesterle, roughly 70% of its money comes from advertising, which some people see as a conflict of interest. I mean are you going to give a low rating to an advertiser?
A federal lawsuit filed in Philadelphia this month may answer that question.
But I am wondering how the company's business is doing. Let us go to the numbers.
2012 revenues: $155,799,000. Losses: $51,033,000.
2013 revenues: $245,642,000. Losses: $32,989,000.
2014 revenues: $315,011,000. Losses: $12,532,000.
Now the losses are shrinking and the revenues doubled. Everyone gets sued in business.
But its stock price dropped from $17.94 a share on January 31, 2014, to $6.34 on Friday.
Angie's List's main competitor after 20 years is the upstart Yelp. Here are Yelp's numbers:
2012 revenues: $137,567,000. Losses: $19,145,000.
2013 revenues: $232,988,000. Losses: $10,068,000.
2014 revenues: $377,536,000. Losses: $0. It showed a PROFIT of $36,473,000.
So while Angie's List bled nearly $100 million in the last three years, its competitor showed a modest gain of $7 million.
On top of that, Yelp has poured roughly $120 million into research and development over the last three years, while Angie's List has spent zero.
And finally, Yelp's market cap is $3.5 billion -- nearly 10 times Angie's List.
Conservatives who support freedom of religion need not bother boycotting Angie's List. It looks like the world already is. You have a company with a 1995 business plan struggling in a 2015 world.
What they are not telling you is its stock price is down, it has posted losses for at least three years, and its plan to build a $40 million operation in Indianapolis required $18.5 million in tax incentives, which it lobbied for heavily this year. The boycott may be a cover story for a project that pancaked.
Angie's List is an online operation where people rate services and companies. Founded by Angie Hicks in 1995 with money from her boss, venture capitalist William S. Oesterle, roughly 70% of its money comes from advertising, which some people see as a conflict of interest. I mean are you going to give a low rating to an advertiser?
A federal lawsuit filed in Philadelphia this month may answer that question.
But I am wondering how the company's business is doing. Let us go to the numbers.
2012 revenues: $155,799,000. Losses: $51,033,000.
2013 revenues: $245,642,000. Losses: $32,989,000.
2014 revenues: $315,011,000. Losses: $12,532,000.
Now the losses are shrinking and the revenues doubled. Everyone gets sued in business.
But its stock price dropped from $17.94 a share on January 31, 2014, to $6.34 on Friday.
Angie's List's main competitor after 20 years is the upstart Yelp. Here are Yelp's numbers:
2012 revenues: $137,567,000. Losses: $19,145,000.
2013 revenues: $232,988,000. Losses: $10,068,000.
2014 revenues: $377,536,000. Losses: $0. It showed a PROFIT of $36,473,000.
So while Angie's List bled nearly $100 million in the last three years, its competitor showed a modest gain of $7 million.
On top of that, Yelp has poured roughly $120 million into research and development over the last three years, while Angie's List has spent zero.
And finally, Yelp's market cap is $3.5 billion -- nearly 10 times Angie's List.
Conservatives who support freedom of religion need not bother boycotting Angie's List. It looks like the world already is. You have a company with a 1995 business plan struggling in a 2015 world.
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