Forum - View topicNEWS: Exclusive: AX 2010 Lost $1.2 Million; IDG to Boost Involvement
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fireaxe
 Posts: 503 Location: Trois-Rivieres, Canada |
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I'm quite curious as to how you can go from this:
to this...
on back-to-back events. 
Did they hire Madonna to make a live performance in 2010 or something? :p |
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Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2173 |
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I'd be interested in seeing if everything went wrong in 2010 or if there was one or two aspects of the event that was significantly worse than in years prior and post.
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Sailor S
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Sounds like Michael Lattanzio didn't have a clue as to what he was doing. He did come across as a real slimey douchebag when I saw him at the con. Kinda like a cheesy 80's movie comedy villain. I still enjoyed AX 2010 though, so at least his douchery didn't affect me.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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At least, this is my understanding of the situation. |
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DeltaTango
Posts: 6 |
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This. AX'07 was a disaster, and we knowingly took on a huge deficit in '08 to rebuild the lost attendee goodwill (as well as ease doubts about the LACC venue change). Then we spent a ton of effort digging our way out of that hole in '09. Two incredibly difficult years with very daunting goals, were navigated successfully by largely the same upper management team. This was the team that Lattanzio crapped all over (and who the Board happily watched walk out). I told people in 2010 that I wouldn't be surprised if there was no AX2011, and got told I was blowing things out of proportion. Maybe now those people will finally see how blind they were. -Delta |
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Apollo-kun
 Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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Hey, welcome to the forums by the way! ANN's are some of the most fun to post on around! 
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GhostShell
Posts: 1009 Location: Richmond, B.C., Canada |
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At least a plan is in place, so hopefully they can achieve their goal of eliminating the debt in the two-year period they propose. Personally, with solid management and oversight, I think they'll succeed.
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1748 |
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I would like to know what will happen if AX does not make $600K in profits in the next two years and finds themselves unable to pay off the debt.
I think it's expected that AX have a solid line up every year. AX has to live up to its hype or people won't show up. There are so many other conventions in the US that those who can afford to go somewhere else will go somewhere else. And these are exactly the type of people that AX can't afford to lose. I don't think it's an option for AX to skimp on quality guests, so making up funds that way isn't an option. It will be interesting to see what happens this year as AX is occurring prior to July 4 and thus can not take advantage of the typical holiday crowd. I am quite happy, though, that they plan to speed up the registration line this year. I was in the exhibitor line in 2011 on the first day and ended up waiting 4 hours for a badge. |
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meruru
Posts: 471 |
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I went in '06 and it seemed so badly organized that honestly I don't find it surprising that it lost money.
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xstylus
 Posts: 263 |
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A lot changes in seven years.
The issue has been debated ad-nauseum. It was fairly well agreed that 2010 was headed in the wrong direction. SPJA experimented with having a big shot CEO and paid through the nose for it. Claim your victory if you wish. The bigger victory is that AX lives on. Those who remained fought hard so that, even at a deficit, AX2011 blew expectations out of the water. The team picked themselves up at their weakest (and even in the face of a direct challenge from those who left) and pulled off an all time best. AX is stronger and better for it. AX2012 will be better still. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15317 |
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That would explain why the AX GOH list last year was so mediocre.
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14772 |
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So the biggest fan-run anime con is becoming a bit less fan-run..............
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DeltaTango
Posts: 6 |
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Still haven't learned to keep quiet, eh Troy? If I felt the need to "claim my victory", you can be sure I wouldn't have waited til today. All the people who truly needed to know I was right undoubtedly did by Day 5 of 2010 (and most of them probably much sooner than that). The only difference between yesterday and today is that what I've known for two years is out there for everyone to see. Finally, let's be honest here. This wasn't some failed experiment, it was a powerplay. I walked because the options were 1) let the BoD win, or 2) try to pick up the pieces after their goon spent a year breaking everything. The path I chose meant that the time left til con would be dedicated to get things together instead of infighting. I made the choice that was most likely to let con survive, even though that meant giving up something I'd already put 11 years into. In contrast, BoD decided they were willing to risk con going under in order to keep their seats, and it cost AX $1,200,000. And surprise, surprise, look who's the CEO today. There's no doubt in my mind that con would be dead if not for one critical person, and it sure wasn't anyone sitting on BoD. |
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notstarman
Posts: 6 |
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Remember that there was a major earthquake an tsunami 3 months before the event and realize that many potential GOH's were directly effected by this event making them unavailable to attend. |
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drscorpio
Posts: 9 |
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I sorta thought something like this was the case with AX 2010. I never actually expected to find out the truth though (with all the smoke and mirrors we got regarding AX during that time).
That is quite a hole AX needs to climb out of. I do think AX2011 was very successful, but if that only made $100,000 in profit, I dunno about paying everything off in 2 years. |
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