For the close to two years now, MIH (majority owners of Sulit.com.ph) has been trying to buy Tsikot — an online Filipino community/forum focused on cars and general automotive.
According to a source close to the deal, MIH offered “up to” Php100 Million to the founders of Tsikot. But there’s a catch — only 10% will be paid in cash (Php10 Million), straight up.
The rest will be staggered based on the performance and revenues of the site (more like an earn-out which is paid out over time as the acquired company achieves certain levels of sales or profitability).
The initial Php10 Million seemed a bit small and the earn-out for the next 5 years is not guaranteed. Likewise, the acquisition involved 100% of Tsikot (it started out as simple majority at first) so that means the founders will eventually be taken out of the picture completely.
Last week, negotiations tanked for the last time. Tsikot will continue to be run independently and MIH will pursue the car classifieds thru Sulit.com.ph (a move they’ve already been doing for a while now).
MIH has investments in NimBuzz, OLX, Tencent and many other internet and e-commerce sites around the world. The company bought 51% of Sulit.com.ph back in 2009 for an rumored $1 million (a scoop we first reported here).
It seems the merger is beneficial for the owners/company but not for the users. I am excited for the new players. Mybenta (though I don’t like the features) has a potential because those who hates OLX are signing up here. There are so many other online classified ads but worth noting are the niche based like kotchiko.com (cars) and serbida.com (services)
they should have increased their offer to 50 million.. baka na materialize pa yan :)
Well, money is not everything. http://learner-spot.blogspot.com/
Wow! 10 Million is cool enough for newbie bloggers like us…:)
I think they make like 2 to 3 M a year on ads alone.
Agree with Arnold, it really depends on how much Tsikot is earning annually versus their operating expenses and what their projections are both in traffic, sign-ups and monetization for the next 5 years. They’ve been around for quite some time so maybe this is a good time to exit. :)
if it’s 10M up front for cash and stock baka nag materialize pa yung deal but from the looks of things… MIH may need to look somewhere else.
Not sure what tsikot.com is earning, but 10m for a pinoy start up sounds cool to me.
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how much does Tsikot make?
nakalimutan ko pala…hihi wala kasing edit eh… nasa tawaran stage pa yata ang MIH at tsikot hehe… mas maganda kung mataas pa yung initial na ibibigay … parang friendster at facebook…kung ako sa kanila..ibenta nila kung ibebenta.. darating panahon may sisikat pa..nde natin alam… may sikat noon nalalaos din.. in my humble opinion…
Lugi sila dyan… pumayag na sya pag 50% ang ibabayad…pero kung risk taker sya..why not di ba?! malaking pera yan… nde naman pinupulot ang pera eh..heheh..
@daniel … malamang may nag oofer kay yuga dyan hehehe…. mabili man yung site nila o hindi nag iwan naman na sila ng halimbawa at alam na nila pasikot sikot sa netsphere!
next nyan …yugatech bought MIH for 200 million na ^^ haha
I didn’t know RJ sold sulit for a million bucks! Millionaire ka na pala hehe… Keep up the good work bro!