Who said they will get a return of near nothing?
Why would you assume that? Why wouldnt THEY run their next venture with empire growth like their last? Profit taken each year from RCU was probably not in scale with the $20mil just for handing over the deed & keeping their jobs. Why not apply that business plan to the AMA Competitor RC Org.

They could very easily step into the bidding for urban parks market that the AMA Parkie tier is grasping for. They could easily over insure & under dues that Urban Parkie Market in a drive to be more appealing to municipalities, and front the concept that public lands should be accessable to all groups that meet whatever insurance reqs the city puts up. They could easily be very much directly competeing AMA in that Urban Parkie market with URCO(UniversalRC.Org) SelfInsured & Hartford backed insurance .

They could focus on the bleading edge, rather than embracingt he past.
Their internet talents for mass net appeal could very well open up new Clan Based competition & will refer to cutting ribbon as Fragging. Gather up the youth from their Xbox & PSIII couches & put the sticks of a foamie in their hands. How do they reach these kids.... uh... the youth driven internet gaming sites. Those game devoted sites, the Clan sites, the cheat sites... all would love a few bucks more in baner adds for flying UniversalRC.org foamies.

How many banner ads does the AMA currently have at internet Shooter Game sites?
How much live webcast of events does AMA do?
How many yeas back is the AMA in exploiting the internet to cheaply provide service & content?
.... here is a hint, we get a column from the execs rather than a 1~3 minute vid streamed by Flash.

Why wouldnt THEY at URCO do all that & more to grow an AMA Competition empire & go public in a few years. We haerd all about how AMA isnt a monopoly, yet now we hear how even guys with $20mil cant really compete with a $10mil org?

Anyway,
URCO could indeed take on AMA head on in the Urban & Heli market... like the 2mil+ parkies out there... rather than trying to draw FreeFlight & Rubber away from AMA.


Here! Here! well said Kid!

Since this is just a fantasy topic, I couldn't see any large investor type getting involved in a lose money skeem. If they were going to get involved, it would be with a lot of forethought and planning.

Look at the said item, see whats good and bad about it, eliminate the bad and improve the good on yours, and bingo!

Very simple business plan. If your's is better, costwise and benefitwise, or you can offer way more benefits at a similar price you probably are going to do well.

And as Kid spoke of, you are better off using what's hot/ current if it's going to be your core membership.

I'm pretty sure we all will agree the electric segment, parkies, outlaws, AMA'ers, are the biggest group out there. Somebody not tapping into this part of the hobby a while ago, has missed a whale of an opportunity, and the stumbling/bumbling AMA attempt at it left the door wide open for a group to step in and grab it.

I'm betting RCU wasn't the attraction for Hearst - Kaango was. Marc and company took the expertise gained from developing RCU and applied it to newspaper (Hearst) advertising, doing a great job of revolutionizing the way newspapers handle classified ads. Hearst (newspaper business) took notice, and saw a way to profit in a business that is becoming increasingly bleak. RCU, while being important to the members, is a drop in the bucket to Hearst. The applications of the behind-the-scenes software and expertise were worth $20 mil, not RCU. Good for Marc and company. Lots of other technology-based companies are exploring alternative markets for intellectual properties that will far outperform their original application.

Marc and company retain a 20% interest in the Kaango properties, including RCU. Their jobs remain the same, but they have taken a cashout of 4/5 of their equity. Their remaining share may soon grow to be worth more than $20 mil - if and when Kaago is worth $100 mil. Marc is a programmer, manager and entrepreneur of considerable talent - and I applaud his efforts. I doubt he will start slacking off now that Hearst owns the controlling share, 'cuz it's still his baby and his passion.

Now as far as him entering competition with AMA - I very much doubt it. If there was money to be made insuring modelers for liability, one of the major insurance companies would already be doing it. Marc has just become a hot property in his field of expertise, and I believe he is smart enough to concentrate his efforts there.

The money isnt in the insurance,
it is in the logo shirts caps & mugs .... merchandising, you gotta exploit the merchandising [8D]
Just like the little URCO action figures (stop calling them dolls!),
that is where the markup is.


Im sure they are very busy staying with their position at RCU.
But I am also sure they can take enough time out to hire a Operations Manager to 'manage operations' of the organization while the owners play golf... I mean while the owners are busy with RCU.

We are talking about 2 guys.
Why would folks assume the 2 guys ( sub in JimC & DaveM) would do every little thing by them selves? DaveM is not goingto be answering very phone call from guys wanting to join, we have Muncie staff for that. JimC isnt going to take calls from guys wanting to know if their XXX foamie is PF rated or not, they have Muncie staff for that. JimC & DaveM are not mowing the lawn (& we certainly know SteveK aint!!!!), they have staff for that. Jim & Dave aint doing the accounting or legal research, they hire pros for that.

Talking about 2 guys with a model aviation org, is it Jim & Dave or the RCU guys?
Whomever the 2 guys are, they will have staff of folks good at the required tasks.... I just imagine the RCU guys will run URCO with less staff, overhead, & welfare projects.

Not much profit?
If THEY ran without losing $1mil a year on MA, wouldnt they grow the org by a $mil a year?
If THEY charged 1/4 AMA dues, and only captured 1/4 the 2million PF's out there.....
If THEY embracred & exploited RC Cars as well (notice all the RCU Car forums?)....
If THEY kept their day jobs & just popped by the SanDiego HQ (somewhere the field dont ice over) once a month to 'Direct Management Goals', such goals as to continue the fat salaries for Executive Management Directors, dividends for the investors, and rapid buyout of capitol investors (get their $20 mil out fast).

Well, I have a problem with "monopoly" to start with, My BBA tells me that to corner a market you have to have a market to corner and I don't think what AMA does really consists of a "market".
But, A is closer to what I meant. I don't think they can compete with AMA. AMA too long a history and just those who'll support AMA because they've been around since 1936 and those who will support AMA because it's the path of least resistance will keep AMA as the premier organization for many, many years to come. I don't think they have the stamina or the resources to stay in the fight long enough to displace AMA. Let's face it, $20M is not that much anymore. There are several hundred easier ways to turn $20M into $40M than trying to get us cheap modelers to support a competitive organization.

Thanx for the full post.

Since you seem like a stand up guy,
I'll just say we disagree on things and leave it at that.
(well, Leave it at that with you,
I'm still going to raise cain over the subject, but not directed at you in particular )