
The New York Times is buying the Wirecutter for more than $30M - uptown
http://www.recode.net/2016/10/24/13381002/new-york-times-wirecutter-purchase-30-million-briam-lam-consumer-guide
======
et-al
The Wirecutter worked because a reader could understand that its source of
income was affiliate links for quality consumer goods. And we trusted that
it'd be critical and honest.

On the other hand, a media company that relies on advertising for a
significant chunk of its revenue naturally seems like it will have a conflict
of interest between its advertisers and the products it may be reviewing.

Anyways, congrats to Brian Lam and co., but I'm curious how this would benefit
the Times in the long run.

~~~
sparky_z
It's definitely concerning, but doesn't an affiliate link business model also
have potential conflicts of interest? There's a direct financial incentive to
recommend products from sellers with more generous referral programs, as well
as a bias toward more expensive products (assuming the kickback is percentage
based).

Hopefully the NYT is smart enough to realize that all the value is in the
reputation and maintain an open and transparent hands-off editorial policy.
Keeping the articles as detailed and comprehensive as they are is also
important, but still leaves room for advertiser pressure through omission of
viable alternatives while retaining the appearance of objectivity.

~~~
gnopgnip
Yes you will notice that the related site thesweethome rarely includes Ikea
products or any other company that does not have a lucrative affiliate program
in the comparison.

~~~
apendleton
I don't think this is true. Ikea is often included in Sweethome comparisons
for which Ikea has products, but the overlap between what Ikea sells (mostly
furniture) and the Sweethome reviews (lots of tools, small appliances, kitchen
electronics, etc.) is not that great. But Ikea products seem to have been
included in all the reviews related to mattresses or bedding, flatware,
dishes, pots and pans, etc.:
[http://thesweethome.com/?s=ikea](http://thesweethome.com/?s=ikea)

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Terribledactyl
Except for an extremely minor purchase (can opener, never again oxo), I've
been extremely happy with the recommendations from Wirecutter/Sweethome. Even
if you don't end up buying the recommended item (or anything related), you get
very detailed article about the pros/cons, manufacturing decisions, etc of a
particular product and can apply those in your other searches.

~~~
exhilaration
I agree, the Wirecutter/Sweethome is my most trusted source of product
reviews.

~~~
the_watcher
Agreed. They're extremely good about detailed reviews with pros, cons, and
options for different types of purchasers.

~~~
osi
for most things, yes. i went looking to sweethome about ceiling fans, and
while information, it was a bit lacking compared to other categories

[http://thesweethome.com/reviews/ceiling-fan-i-always-
get/](http://thesweethome.com/reviews/ceiling-fan-i-always-get/)

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uptown
Just a reminder ... your MVP can be crude:

[https://web.archive.org/web/20111013114740/http://thewirecut...](https://web.archive.org/web/20111013114740/http://thewirecutter.com/)

~~~
atmosx
OMG, I can't believe it. The current design is extremely modern/cool but the
old one is so geeky, I loved that too and I also discovered an interesting
website I didn't know... Although as a European, I'm probably cut off from
many of the most interesting products (e.g. standing desks).

------
Bud
Extremely smart purchase by the Grey Lady, if you ask me. And a good deal for
the price. Feeds naturally into their slick online presence, adds content in
very popular topic areas—areas that people with disposable income like to read
about.

------
arielweisberg
Really useful content that frames not just what but why they came to their
conclusion and how you can adapt their evaluation to your own needs.

I can see how it could work because I have spent several thousand based on
their advice. Several times through the Amazon link.

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notlisted
Love both sites. Fear the worst. Hope I'm wrong. They've influenced many
purchasing-decisions. Happy with 95% of 'em.

PS Wirecutter/sweethome replaced consumersearch.com for me. ConsumerSearch
summarized meta-analysis of reviews. After they were sold to about.com (NYT)
it became 'stale' so I stopped using them. Just checked, it's still a decent
site.

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Max_Mustermann
Does anyone know a way to see an overview of _past_ wirecutter recommendations
for each segment? I'd like to know which used/refurbished products could be
the best option.

~~~
kbrosnan
Archive.org has the home page since 2012
[http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://theWirecutter.com](http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://theWirecutter.com)

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the_watcher
I've used The Wirecutter and the Sweethome to guide most of the major home
purchases I've made over the past 3 years. So far, their advice has been spot
on.

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gxs
What a shame. Happy for the founders as it is a great site, but hopefully the
quality doesn't take too deep of a dive.

Right now they make all their money off of affiliate links, so let's see what
happens when the parent company depends on advertisement.

~~~
the_watcher
> What a shame.

Is this just a default assumption that the NYT is going to ruin it? I'm
actually not totally sure about comparable situations, but Engadget seems to
have done ok after being acquired.

~~~
TillE
They were completely inept stewards of FiveThirtyEight, who do some of the
most obviously helpful, objective, uncontroversial work you could possibly do
in politics.

[http://www.cjr.org/analysis/fivethirtyeight.php](http://www.cjr.org/analysis/fivethirtyeight.php)

The NYT also has no idea how to deal with obvious digital journalism issues
like how to flag when major substantive edits have been made to a piece after
publication. It's a dinosaur of an organization, trying some new things but
fundamentally out of touch with the modern world.

~~~
vit05
I do not think they are trying new things because they want change their core
business. They have a strong subscriber base, which is growing, and a huge
audience. They have a strong brand that is recognizable worldwide For example,
they have close a deal with a Brazilian Tv network to deliver video and other
exclusive contents that they produce.

Probably wanna have more ways to monetize from this base investing in digital
plataform like Wirecutter.

------
uptown
From self-funding to a $30M acquisition. Well done.

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aanet
I hope the NYT doesn't screw up the Wirecutter!

NYT -- always late to the party, and under dressed. Although, not quite sure
what party Wirecutter represents.

Previously, back in Web 1.0 days, NYT bought: \-- Abuzz.com [Jan 2002]
[https://www.cnet.com/news/new-york-times-acquires-
abuzz/](https://www.cnet.com/news/new-york-times-acquires-abuzz/)

\-- About.com [2005] for $400M
[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/business/media/the-
times-c...](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/business/media/the-times-
company-acquires-aboutcom-for-410-million.html)

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danso
Wow, I'm assuming that the creators might not leave with fuck-you-money, but
assuming they were relatively profitable or at least break-even, that seems
like a great exit for a small-scale-content-company in today's environment.

Wirecutter, like Macrumor's buyers guide, have my admiration for building a
vital content service out of a pretty simple idea. Gives hope that content-
creators don't have to go the viral-spam-crap route to be a success. Or, at
least worthwhile.

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joshdance
Wow. 5 years of work. 30 million. That is like 6 million a year.

~~~
nylonstrung
Plus I'm guessing they were banking almost all of the revenue from those 5
years as well

------
dbg31415
This was just about the only site I trusted to be as critical of goods and
services as I am. Not really sure where all those BS 5-star reviews come from
on Amazon but these guys were sufficiently critical and it made for good
content.

Hope being bought doesn't screw the quality, but if it does seems like a good
business model for someone else to fire up. "We only give As to people who
deserve As..."

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NN88
I hope the quality is maintained

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sadjuniordev
Is it written in React?

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draw_down
I like the idea for the site and I like the actual site too, but I find it
somewhat frustrating how often their recommendations are no longer available
for purchase, or their articles say "hang on, this will be updated soon!" and
you never know when "soon" is.

~~~
tbihl
Just had this problem last week with the sweet home. I ended up being from a
sporting goods store instead of Amazon, but I pretty much knew there was going
to be some rust from the long storage time of the discontinued product. It
turned out to be only a minor issue.

It's a little frustrating how really I can look at a website or product line
and reliably make a judgment like "they made a good product in gen 1/2, but
now they're in the gen 3/4 cash out phase where they cut costs and make huge
margins on the product before their reputation catches up with the new cost-
cutting." It shows how often I see it.

My wife and I are missing some significant things in our apartment, but I
intend to keep dragging my feet so I can acquire high-quality things as I get
the time to research and the money to buy them. Disposable crap isn't worth my
time.

Then again, maybe all the mid-30-something's here are laughing at me right now
because I'm just doing what everyone does once they mature and become
experienced.

