FT.com has further numbers concerning BBC Worldwide’s acquisition of 75 percent of the Lonely Planet travel guides publisher (see earlier post). Supposedly, the buy cost “in the region of £100 ($204.3 million)”, with funds coming from £60 in cash and its £350 million borrowing facility. CEO John Smith told Media Guardian he would set aside Lonely Planet’s concerns about cannibalising print revenue to put all of its travel guides online. He will invest “tens of millions” to bring the site up to scratch for an audience that, nowadays, prefers to use sites like TripAdvisor.
And, in a statement: “This deal fits well with our strategy to create one of the world