The Left is all excited because Angie's List is "boycotting" Indiana over the state's new Religious Freedom law.
What they are not telling you is its stock price is down, it has posted losses for at least three years, and its plan to build a $40 million operation in Indianapolis required $18.5 million in tax incentives, which it lobbied for heavily this year. The boycott may be a cover story for a project that pancaked.
Angie's List is an online operation where people rate services and companies. Founded by Angie Hicks in 1995 with money from her boss, venture capitalist William S. Oesterle, roughly 70% of its money comes from advertising, which some people see as a conflict of interest. I mean are you going to give a low rating to an advertiser?
A federal lawsuit filed in Philadelphia this month may answer that question.
But I am wondering how the company's business is doing. Let us go to the numbers.
2012 revenues: $155,799,000. Losses: $51,033,000.
2013 revenues: $245,642,000. Losses: $32,989,000.
2014 revenues: $315,011,000. Losses: $12,532,000.
Now the losses are shrinking and the revenues doubled. Everyone gets sued in business.
But its stock price dropped from $17.94 a share on January 31, 2014, to $6.34 on Friday.
Angie's List's main competitor after 20 years is the upstart Yelp. Here are Yelp's numbers:
2012 revenues: $137,567,000. Losses: $19,145,000.
2013 revenues: $232,988,000. Losses: $10,068,000.
2014 revenues: $377,536,000. Losses: $0. It showed a PROFIT of $36,473,000.
So while Angie's List bled nearly $100 million in the last three years, its competitor showed a modest gain of $7 million.
On top of that, Yelp has poured roughly $120 million into research and development over the last three years, while Angie's List has spent zero.
And finally, Yelp's market cap is $3.5 billion -- nearly 10 times Angie's List.
Conservatives who support freedom of religion need not bother boycotting Angie's List. It looks like the world already is. You have a company with a 1995 business plan struggling in a 2015 world.
Wonderful article! Very informative and incisive. If I may humbly note, it looks as if you may have transposed Angie's 2014 revenue onto Yelp's. I believe the correct number is 377,536. Again, wonderful post and I will looking forward to your next posting Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks. That's what I did. I shall fix.
DeleteIt seems that Yelp prefers religious discrimination:
ReplyDeletehttp://hotair.com/archives/2015/03/28/if-yelp-doesnt-like-religious-freedom-laws-they-should-stop-reviewing-restaurants/
Thanks for the link...BUT THAT JAZZ SHAW ARTICLE is UNMITIGATED CR*P!!!
DeleteThe logic appears superficially reasonable, but the comparison and analogies are GARBAGE.
DRESS CODE?!? REALLY?!?!?!?!?
EVERYONE can afford a cake; not all can afford 5-star restaurants.
So, it's an ECONOMIC discriminator, NOT a "racial" one.
IMHO, Jazz Shaw is one of the stupidest writers who claims to write for the Right.
IF Yelp is free for this service, I'll use it. Angie's List charges, even recognizing that they've lowered their rates year after year.
You think if you call someone stupid you'd have the balls to put a name to your comments.....
DeleteIt would seem recovering prefers an alternate reality. Why are your opinions any more valid than the billions who oppose homosexuality??
DeleteIt would seem recovering prefers an alternate reality. Why are your opinions any more valid than the billions who oppose homosexuality??
DeleteAngie's List is a ripoff. The world will be better off for AL's demise.
ReplyDeleteAlso, take a look at Salesforce.com, who has never turned a profit in 16 years of existence!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesforce.com
I am awaiting Apple's announcement that all retailing of its products within Indiana have been withdrawn and it will no longer ship to addresses within Indiana.
Angies List started with a simple concept - it would be a crowd-sourced version of Consumer Reports... complete with online 'teasers' but with the real ratings hidden behind the subscription fee.
ReplyDeleteBut while CR has always been non-profit and upfront about finances, AL has only been for-profit and obtuse, at least until Sarbanes-Oxley forced some truth.
I agree. AL is old business, and headed towards failure. One only need look at the insider holding roster to figure that out...
We use SalesForce at work. It may be the most useless piece of software I have ever encountered.
ReplyDeleteAngie's List is a progressive front, which is why I've boycotted it from the start. I put it in the same Do Not Patronize category as Hollywood movies, Progressive Insurance, most legacy newspapers and broadcast media but especially the NYT, ABC, CBS, and NBC. Apparently bigoted gays like Tim "I ain't no Steve Jobs" Cook wants to rail and discriminate against religious people exercising their 1st Amendment rights in ways he would never tolerate against gays.
ReplyDeleteI dropped my membership. I refuse to patronize any business that thrusts itself into political discourse. They can play economic terrorism with their own money, not mine. By the way, I feel the same way about a conservative business as well.
ReplyDeleteAGREE!!! I just terminated my subscription. Had an account for years! Need to have a class action suit against false advertising. I thought I was supporting a business NOT a political advocacy firm!
DeleteLooks like Angie's List is just looking for publicity.
ReplyDeleteI did not trust Angie's List from the moment I saw it.
ReplyDeleteNone of the site's arguments as to why a subscription service is better make any sense. AL still sells advertising space and they don't seem to realize that paying $20 for 4 months of service in order to get a guaranteed good review is PEANUTS to a company. Nothing. I guarantee they do it all the time. So that isn't a deterrent either.
Last but not least, why are the opinions of a group of natter house-moms more valuable, valid or insightful than the general public? Or insightful enough that they're worth paying extra for?
I love it when businesses with an affinity for liberal fascist behavior gratuitously self-identify, because it saves me so much work when I'm trying to decide who to give my money to....and now Angie's List will never get a penny of mine.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Angie!
I have no basis for comparison having never used any such services, but it appears that Amazon is now in the fray. Buh-bye, Angie.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/services/
"... it has posted losses for at least three years..."
ReplyDeleteTo be more specific, AL "has never turned a profit in its two decades of existence".
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2015/03/angies-list-uses-rfra-as-excuse-for.html
I agree. It is way better to tell your investors that your an aggressive SJW than an incompetent businessperson. They couldn't afford the expansion. They had to say something.
ReplyDeleteVery insightful! Cancelled my AL subscription this morning. The young man in customer relations was almost apologetic and seemed to sense that this was a disaster. AL was pretty quick-on-the-trigger to promote discrimination against people with religious beliefs and protect the homosexual cabal. Ironic that their carefully crafted image is to appeal to middle America.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of your best posts ever, Don. Thanks for the great info.
ReplyDeleteI've never been the slightest bit attracted to AnLi but had I, I would have unhooked long ago. Love it when companies politicize their products and services. It's so easy to move on or pass on by.
Amazon just announced they're going into competition with Angie's List.
ReplyDeleteAre they officially circling the drain yet?
I just cancelled my subscription to Angie's List. I also demanded a 110% refund of my money as promised in the Angie's List Membership Bill of Rights. The Angie's List rep claimed that the 110% guarantee applied only to FIRST year annual memberships. In fact, their Membership Bill of Rights, last updated on October 2014, contains no such limitation.
ReplyDeleteSo, if you're a member, not only should you cancel, but you should also demand your money back as they promised.
Angie's List may be boycotting Indiana, but it looks as if the country is boycotting Angie'is List! The Angie's List stock is down more than 10 percent since their ill-advised comment on this controversial political issue. Angie's List has also stuck a sharp stick into the eye of about half of their potential customers. Not a very smart business move!
ReplyDeleteDumped my subscription this morning.
ReplyDeleteI am cancelling now. For those who cancelled, did they agree to 110% refund as stated in their terms? (http://support.angieslist.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/50/~/canceling-my-membership)
ReplyDeleteJust cancelled and they are refunding unused portion of yearly fee.
ReplyDelete