09-07-2011, 08:02 PM
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Purveyor, Fine Asian Porn
Industry Role:
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 38,323
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I'm sure the owners of MM make nice advertising revenue, plus they have a lot of upsells (ZED cards, etc).
Anyway, I was going to make a post about MM being sold a few years ago, when I stumbled across this, which might provide some clue as to the current worth of MM:
Tyler Waitt, former owner of Model Mayhem, files lawsuit against Internet Brands
Excerpts:
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Documents specific to this case has just been leaked to me. Stay tuned for very detailed information to follow after I get a chance to analyze it. For now, I can tell you that the amount of the suit is for $500,000 and the complaints are as follows:
Breach of Contract
Breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealings
Conversion
Fraud and deceit
Fraudulent inducement
Accounting
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Quote:
May 13, 2008, Tyler and IB entered into an agreement to sell the assets of Model Mayhem to Internet Brands. The agreement called for the sale of Modelmayhem.com and all related assets such as rights, domains, subdomains, and trademarks.
It?s unclear to me if there was a lump sum payment at the time of sale. I have to assume there was a sizable upfront payment. This complaint specifically addresses deferred payments as a bonus.
The deferred agreement called for a payment of $800,000 if the average monthly pageviews for 2009 are at least 350 million. If the average of 350 million was not achieved but a minimum of 225 million pageview was achieved, a fraction of the $800,000 would be paid based on a type of prorated calculation.
Additionally, 10% of all net website membership dues in excess of $250,000 would also be paid. In other words, Internet Brands gets the first quarter million. After that, it?s split 90/10 with 10% going to Tyler and Donald.
It is claimed that both parties agreed to use Google Analytics pageviews as the tracking reports to determine payment.
2009 pageview payment was due on February 15, 2010 and IB did not pay even after repeatedly promising to pay.
On November 10, 2009, Internet Brands provided a report showing Model Mayhem had averaged about 290 million pageviews.
After Donald Waitt and Tyler Waitt retained counsel, IB started to dispute the pageview numbers provided by Google Analytics.
On March 19, 2010, Internet Brands claimed they were not informed of a criminal investigation involving Model Mayhem when it was sold on May 13, 2008. If anyone has verifiable information about this criminal case they want to share, send me the information using the contact form.
Plaintiffs are claiming treble actual damage plus attorneys fees based on California Penal Code 496(c).
On March 19, 2010, Internet Brands claimed in writing that 65% of the website pageviews from 2009 as reported by Google Analytics were invalid. Internet Brands also claimed tens of millions of pageviews per month were not real pageviews.
On March 22, 2010, Internet Brands claimed in writing that 75% of the website pageviews from 2009 as reported by Google Analytics were not real pageviews.
Internet Brands further claimed their own research was only able to identify 246 million pageviews per month.
But plaintiffs claim Internet Brands? representatives provided a sworn declaration on March 29, 2010 that Model Mayhem?s monthly average pageview were 290 million.
Plaintiffs further claim Internet Brands had no intention of making the deferred payments at the time of sale.
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Interesting... 
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