Joe.ie goes Bang!!

Portmanteau

pjohnson wrote: »

Wokeness and covid have fcuk all to do.

It was a clickbait site caught using a click farm. Thats instant death in advertising based industry.

But isn't it likely that COVID-19 sped up its demise?

Brock Turnpike

Portmanteau wrote: »

But isn't it likely that COVID-19 sped up its demise?

How?

Portmanteau

Brock Turnpike wrote: »

How?

Companies not being able to pay for advertising of course!

KiKi III

Portmanteau wrote: »

But isn't it likely that COVID-19 sped up its demise?

Definitely. Core, the company they made a lot of their advertising from pulled the plug after the clickfarm scandal.

Whatever income they had left, be it Google Ads or various sponsorships was likely decimated by Covid.

So it’s both, combined with mismanagement apparently.

CtevenSrowder

Quin_Dub wrote: »

None of which are indicators of Marxism??

Marxism = Political theory where society is organised such that the workers own the means of Production.

What on earth does that have to do with being Post Modern and PC??

It's a lazy Americanism , caused by Americans actually not actually understanding Politics & Political theory in any way so you're either a "God fearing Conservative" or a "Marxist Commie Libtard"

The idea is that Post modernists took Marxist ideas and applied them more broadly. So in instead of having an oppressed class and an oppressor class (proletariat and bourgeoisie) based on primarily on wealth, postmodernists have applied it to gender (women oppressed, men oppressor), sexuality (heterosexuals oppressors, LGBT oppressed), race (Whites oppressors, non-Whites oppressed) etc. etc. Then within these groups it can be applied yet again ("cis" oppressor, trans oppressed).

The PC part comes in because in order to argue for this position post-modernists tend to (or it's claimed they do) attempt to slander the opposing viewpoint by labelling it racist, homophobic, transphobic , xenophobic etc etc. in order to shut down the debate.

However I agree that all the above primarily relates to America, and it's popularity is greatly exaggerated due to the media and social sciences being infested with these types of people. Unfortunately, we've seen drips and drabs enter into Irish politics and political discourse e.g. Mary-lou accused MM of mansplaining during the leaders debates I seem to recall. The Uk isn't immune either (see the Labour party primarily).

Sebastian Dangerfield

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd nearly even forgive them being a neo Marxist clickbait site, and the McGregor promotion even, but the head on yer man the owner..

I dont know the guy but have some mutual friends so see some liked social media posts of his. He seems smug in the extreme, and is very fond of showing off his nice things, loosely under the guise of a humble brag about hard work paying off.

Homelander

I don't get why people mention TheJournal and Joe.ie in the same sentence as if they're the same.

I don't really read The Journal, but it is a news site and has some good stuff. Joe.ie is 90% utter scutter clickbait.

Yellow_Fern

Portmanteau wrote: »

An awful publication I agree but why are people pretending it went bust because of being "woke" (and other words made up by Americans which get latched onto here without question) and not because of a certain virus causing severe damage to the economy?

I don't like words being taken here that don't make sense (boomer) or words that already have a local equivalent (minerals vs soda). However words like woke and indeed simps refer to concepts that have no local equivalent here.

First person I hear using the word 'simp' in real life is getting a slap..

Mango Joe

The Glassdoor reviews linked here earlier are the worst I've ever seen - A consensus clearly emerges with some people saying they were in severe mental distress due to a toxic work atmosphere. A lot of people seem to be pointing in particular at one individual too....

When Companies are paying for advertising they are basically seeking assurances of a certain audience level - Is using a click-farm to fake this audience level not open for prosecution as fraud? Speaking generally here, not about any one company in particular.

Anyway over €6,000,000+ in debt is nothing in modern Ireland, I'm sure all involved will hang on their houses and cars, the whole lot will be magically written off and they'll get Enterprise Ireland funding next week to employ 30 more people.....

Tork

I'm still not sure who exactly joe.ie was aimed at. It never had its own identity and simply fell down between two stools. The Journal.ie isn't to everyone's taste but it has its own identity. It also has that notorious comments section underneath their news articles. The ones you just can't look away from even though you should. There was nothing like that on joe's site. Nor did it do well as a news site. It never did that as well as its competitors. Reading a news article on joe.ie was a bit like snacking on 2 or 3 Chicken McNuggets, when you could get a Big Mac by going elsewhere. I get the impression that the only part of the site that people will miss is the podcasts. Some of those may yet survive outside the joe.ie ecosystem.

For Forks Sake

Portmanteau wrote: »

But isn't it likely that COVID-19 sped up its demise?

No.

Failing to tell the people that you're borrowing money from about the easily overlooked fact that you owe money to the taxman, on the other hand...

The appointment was sought by Kelly Smith, for BPC Lending Ireland DAC of Molesworth St, Dublin, as a creditor of Maximum Media, which has registered offices at Distillery Building, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8.

Maximum Media is the company behind the Joe.ie website. It also owns the SportsJoe, Her, and HerFamily platforms.

In court documents, BPC said that, under a 2018 loan agreement, it has advanced some €6.02 million to Maximum Media with monthly interests repayments of some €68,000. The current loan balance is €6.1 million, it said.

Maximum Media had entered the UK market in 2015 and commenced trading through a UK company also named Maximum Media Networks Ltd, which had since changed its name to Joe Media Ltd.

The €6.1 million loan is guaranteed by Joe Media Ltd, it said. That company also has significant solvency/financial issues and BPC had decided to seek to appoint an administrator to it as soon as possible, it added.

BPC said Maximum Media had failed to pay interest on its loan in March and April and in early April sought a capital and interest moratorium which BPC declined.

On May 12th, the company’s principal, Niall McGarry, sought a “standstill” for a couple of months, saying it could pay salaries or BPC but not both. BPC refused a standstill and contended that request as well as failures to meet interest repayments constituted events of default.

BPC said there were indications of “poor financial management” in Maximum Media, including the discovery of “numerous” payment plans with the sheriff in relation to overdue tax payments which had not previously been disclosed. It was also concerned about the handling of a November 2019 video detailing an instance where a company employee used a “click farm” to artificially inflate engagement numbers.

As a result of the click farm issue and a revenue shortfall in the fourth quarter of 2019, and following discussions with BPC, Maximum Media took various actions in late 2019, including mandating Deloitte to investigate a sales option for its business and the UK business, which had been isolated from events in Ireland

Brock Turnpike

For Forks Sake wrote: »

No.

Failing to tell the people that you're borrowing money from about the easily overlooked fact that you owe money to the taxman, on the other hand...

Who would've thought that the owner of such an upstanding and respected site like Joe.ie could be an absolute chancer?

Arghus

So what's the future prospects? They're still in operation and one of their minions is at the DoH briefings each evening, asking the tough questions and misunderstanding the answers.

fritzelly

Avoid the site as much as I can but cannot believe they had 52 members of staff (doing what>) and had loans of 6 million
Thought the dot com boom ended years ago

PARlance

Arghus wrote: »

So what's the future prospects? They're still in operation and one of their minions is at the DoH briefings each evening, asking the tough questions and misunderstanding the answers.

They're in examinership, it lasts around 3 months. In order to be allowed into examinership, they had to prove to the Court that the business had a chance of being viable. They got that chance and the examiner was appointed, this examiner acts as a chairman type figure over the 3 months to see if things can be turned around. All the while, the company has protection from its creditors during this period...I.e people it owes money to can't force the company to be wound up.

So it's almost business as usual but the clock is ticking.

Long term, I wouldn't be betting on it to survive in it's current state.

Quin_Dub

PARlance wrote: »

They're in examinership, it lasts around 3 months. In order to be allowed into examinership, they had to prove to the Court that the business had a chance of being viable. They got that chance and the examiner was appointed, this examiner acts as a chairman type figure over the 3 months to see if things can be turned around. All the while, the company has protection from its creditors during this period...I.e people it owes money to can't force the company to be wound up.

So it's almost business as usual but the clock is ticking.

Long term, I wouldn't be betting on it to survive in it's current state.

Exactly , any potentially decent bits will get sold off to settle some of the debt the rest will disappear.

CrabRevolution

Quin_Dub wrote: »

None of which are indicators of Marxism??

Marxism = Political theory where society is organised such that the workers own the means of Production.

What on earth does that have to do with being Post Modern and PC??

It's a lazy Americanism , caused by Americans actually not actually understanding Politics & Political theory in any way so you're either a "God fearing Conservative" or a "Marxist Commie Libtard"

I think some people see "leftists" just as supporters of high taxes, and Political Correctness. So while they might not call themselves right wing, they'll reckon they're definitely not "leftist". This isn't a problem in itself, but as you've mentioned it leads to a black/white viewpoint where to some people "leftist" has grown to mean "someone I disagree with".

There was a thread on the farming forum a while ago suggesting ending state payments to farmers, lowering regulations and letting them succeed or fail according to the market. The advocated letting them float on the market and make a living by their ability to form bigger farms, lower costs, and provide food cheaper, or import food from abroad etc. A pretty typical low-regulation, little state interference, private enterprise for profit economic plan that the right wing are associated with.

Of course this received a pretty incendiary response from the farmers in the forum. A number of them were calling it a "typical leftist" idea; showing pretty well that they've no idea what left/right even mean. "Left" to them just meant someone with ideas they didn't like.

ANXIOUS

The plot thickens, the SBP are reporting that a few months ago RTE offered €10m+ for 49% of the company. Crazy situation!

Beechwoodspark

ANXIOUS wrote: »

The plot thickens, the SBP are reporting that a few months ago RTE offered €10m+ for 49% of the company. Crazy situation!

Madness.

RTÉ has eye watering debts - approx 50 million.

D Forbes should be sacked just on this alone

Jofspring

Was it turned down?

CrabRevolution

ANXIOUS wrote: »

The plot thickens, the SBP are reporting that a few months ago RTE offered €10m+ for 49% of the company. Crazy situation!

That's ridiculous.

I'm also surprised a state body can even invest or buy a share in a private company outside of a bailout or investment of strategic interest to the state. Considering how tight and onerous government procurement laws are, how would this get justified and sanctioned (presumably by the Minister)?

ANXIOUS

Jofspring wrote: »

Was it turned down?

Yes, just said Niall McGarry opted for funding elsewhere.

MadYaker

Never read it due to clickbait headlines and it was all sports.

Better Than Christ

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

Carl Kinsella was a really unpleasant bias writer there. Very extreme.

You mean he writes stuff that you don't agree with? Columnists are supposed to be bias (sic).

Jim Root

Portmanteau wrote: »

But isn't it likely that COVID-19 sped up its demise?

They’ve been in deep trouble as far back as 6 months ago.

retalivity

CrabRevolution wrote: »

That's ridiculous.

I'm also surprised a state body can even invest or buy a share in a private company outside of a bailout or investment of strategic interest to the state. Considering how tight and onerous government procurement laws are, how would this get justified and sanctioned (presumably by the Minister)?

Did joe.ie have a video player that wasnt a complete hape of sh1te? Maybe they were trying to buy that...

Rackstar

ANXIOUS wrote: »

The plot thickens, the SBP are reporting that a few months ago RTE offered €10m+ for 49% of the company. Crazy situation!

Who in there right mind would have turned that down?

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

ANXIOUS wrote: »

The plot thickens, the SBP are reporting that a few months ago RTE offered €10m+ for 49% of the company. Crazy situation!

That’s mad. Isn’t RTÉ struggling financially? And they want people to pay their TV licence whilst they bid for a floundering clickbait site?

fritzelly

Rte don't care - it's not their money they're spending - shows in the utter contempt they hold for the average Joe