Holy Shit! Comicbookresources.com has been Sold!
US-based comic book readers and enthusiasts will wake up or go to work today knowing that one of our favorite websites has been sold. That’s right, Comicbookresources.com aka CBR has been sold as of today!
CBR’s boss had left a memo that assures his employees of their job security. Jonah Weiland, the man behind CBR, writes in a very public memo:
All CBR Staff And Contributors,
I have some important news to share with you all today. After 21 years of operating CBR.com/Comic Book Resources, I’ve sold the company to ValNet Inc., a Montreal based publisher who you may know better as the owners of ScreenRant.com. This news will go wide at 9:00 AM Pacific time via news wire services.
I have the utmost of confidence in Valnet to continue operating CBR and ensure the legacy of the site long term. They have a great team who really knows how to get the best out of a web site, with teams dedicated to social media, user acquisition, advertising and much more. This can mean only good things for CBR and its continued growth and position as a leader in the industry.
I’m sure you have a lot of questions and I hope to answer the most important ones via this e-mail.
DO I STILL HAVE A JOB? WHO DO I PITCH STORIES TO?
You are still a part of CBR. Whatever work you have currently in the pipeline, please carry on as you normally would. Any pitches you may have should continue to go to Albert Ching and/or Stephen Gerding. Basically, however you’ve pitched before, feel free to continue doing it the same way.
HOW WILL I BE PAID/WHOM DO I INVOICE?
For any work published on CBR up to March 31st, or any hourly work you’ve done for CBR up to March 31st, it should be invoiced to CBR like you have done in the past: an e-mail to accounting@comicbookresources.
For any hourly work or work published on CBR done on April 1st or thereafter, you’ll invoice ValNet directly. Invoicing instructions for ValNet will be forthcoming. They have a full accounting department and want to make this as smooth a transition for you as possible.
IMPORTANT CONTACT INFO
At this point I’d like to introduce two important people who work at Valnet that will be able to answer many of the questions you’ll have:
Ben Kendrick , Managing Editor Screen Rant
Salam Said , Director of Content at Valnet
Ben will take lead as the point of contact for Team CBR. He was part of Screen Rant when it was acquired by Valnet in 2015 and has experience with these kinds of transitions. Ben has all your e-mail addresses as well, but feel free to reach out to him.
IS JONAH STILL A PART OF CBR?
In the coming days, weeks and months I’ll be working closely with the Valnet team to ensure a smooth transition, helping them get to know each of you and the many clients CBR works with. I’ll be transitioning out of my job as Executive Producer for the site and will no longer be with the site after we’re done with transition. It’s time for me to explore new adventures in life!
My CBR e-mail address will still be available for a few weeks, but in the future you may contact me at my personal address: XXXX@XXXXX. My cell number remains the same: XXX-XXX-XXXX.
CONCLUSION
I wish I could have contacted each one of you directly, but unfortunately that wasn’t feasible with so many people to notify. It has been a distinct pleasure building CBR and working with each of you. The work you’ve done on CBR and the voices you contribute to comics and pop culture are important and I look forward to reading what you do in the future.
So if you read this, its pretty much business as usual except for the presence of new owners ValNet who will be taking over after some time.
Should we, as readers and followers, worry about this? My answer is yes and no. Yes, because we don’t exactly know what Hassan Youssef, CEO of Valnet, will do with the company. At this point they can say that they will want to soldier on with what CBR has established. Yes we should also be worried because it could mean that there could be changes that we might not like.
At the same time, maybe its a no. Maybe ValNet really just wants to cash in on how much revenue the site makes. I mean this is a juggernaut with my estimate of around 300,000 to 500,000 daily hits. It’s been running for years now so imagine rich content that could be “harvested” (for lack of a better word) if positioned and executed properly. Maybe that’s what they want.
I guess we have to wait for awhile to see any big changes on CBR. It kinda begs the question of site mortality. At one point or another I’ve been offered to sell the domain and the content for this site. Also recently I’ve heard of a blogger acquaintance who sold his website to a corporate company.
RIP old comicbookresources.com and here’s to a brave new world for the site.
Credits: BleedingCool.com
