Sale of MyFitnessPal
jamessteelapim
Posts: 42 Member
MyFitnessPal has been sold to Under Armour, in the States for $475 million. MyFitnessPal is estimated to have 80 million registered users, so Under Armour is paying $6 for each registered user. I reckon at least half of the accounts are dormant, so Under Armour is paying $12-15 for each active user!
Under Armour is not a charity, but a big corporation, with shareholders wanting to see maximum returns on their investment.
Where does that leave the MFP community?
A charging structure will be introduced and then it is up to us to decide to stay or jump ship. We are the asset that Under Armour has bought, it is not the software, which is pretty clunky, with glitches and inaccuracies scattered throughout it. There are other similar and better apps. under development, so Under Armour does not have a monopoly.
Let me have your thoughts before censorship is imposed??
Under Armour is not a charity, but a big corporation, with shareholders wanting to see maximum returns on their investment.
Where does that leave the MFP community?
A charging structure will be introduced and then it is up to us to decide to stay or jump ship. We are the asset that Under Armour has bought, it is not the software, which is pretty clunky, with glitches and inaccuracies scattered throughout it. There are other similar and better apps. under development, so Under Armour does not have a monopoly.
Let me have your thoughts before censorship is imposed??
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Replies
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At the first whiff of a charge I am off to pastures new, nothing & no one is irreplaceable. I assume many will walk as well, and look forward to alternative, free, sites
I will miss the community aspect of MFP friends but maybe many will move over to the replacement?
I imagine that many alternatives will soon be eying up the potential for an extra 40 million pairs of eyes looking, or at least glancing, at adverts and possible spam0 -
They have access to all of our names and addresses, and our diary details. Why do you think they give our location by parliamentary ward? We are the asset and they want to make sure we do not walk away, as a group, once a charging structure is brought in. Do you really think America is the land of the free?0
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I was using Nutracheck in January which costs 3.99 for a month as an app user, it wasn't worth it at all. I hoped it would be well looked after since we all pay to use it but it wasn't. I use an ipad and it would cut the message in half on the screen so couldn't read it all. I complained and they said they were aware of it?! They did nothing whilst i was there about it. The forums were very badly managed, you couldn't search for anything, new posts on a topic don't bring it back to the top, and some nasty trolls who were never reprimanded.0
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Come on some of you clever guys out there. Get developing a new site. Lets have the next MFP in the UK. There must be some of you out there that could do it. Let me know when you do. Who knows, I will probably move over0
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What makes you so sure a charging structure will be imposed? Is this a guess or has this been stated somewhere?
Just having such a large user base is attractive in terms of advertising/marketing - revenue doesn't have to come from charging users.0 -
Apparently Under Armour own Map my Walk/Run and they do a free version and a paid version so maybe MFP will be the same. Quite a few people have been asking for this option anyway0
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Don't rush off anywhere just yet. UA have been acquiring fitness sites with a target of direct marketing. 92% of UA sales are in the US, only 40% of MFP users are in the US, much stronger brand awareness on one purchase (two if you count that they bought Endomondo at the same time). The number say that they paid $5.94 per user, true, around $15 per unique active user, but the inactives aren't lost and still carry a value for e-mail details alone.
So what do they UA need to do to recover their invest - sell one garment per active user, and that is only current active users. In 2014 MFP raised funding to expanding - they got $18M which is why MFP still has the glitches. If UA invest 20% of their purchase price in updating the site it will rock, sure there may be payable and free versions in the future, stick to the free!!!
UA have got a sound investment that reaches 40 Million non-US customers, is the leading nutrition based web-site, a smart move for a cash rich company getting 0% return on it cash holdings.0 -
I agree with TheMrWobbly, but has UA done it's due diligence properly. From my estimates the active users may be as low as 1-3% of the registered users. The dormant users who just had a look see may never have had their accounts deactivated.
The software is certainly not slick, and wearing my business hat, I would never have brought such a half finished product to the market. So where is the asset value if there are only one million active users, at any one time, and a half finished piece of software.
Somebody is going to take a big hit - its either UA or us, if we lose the MFP community.
Accountants are not entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs are not accountants - never the twain will agree, as entrepreneurs work by gut feeling and accountants work on figures that could have been massaged.
Follow this string, it is going to get interesting.0 -
The base numbers don't really matter though web-stats are pretty comprehensive now and the valuation will have a detailed basis. MFP is the leading nutrition based fitness tracker and they have spent very little on marketing. MFP will grow, and what has it really cost UA - they make $88 Million profit each Quarter, that cash is earning them nothing, now it is doing something. I worked for a golf company and I was constantly trying to get the owners to change our web presence from a 'buy something' philosophy to a blog / news / competitions / something to buy in the background approach. People don't like to be sold something but if they 'stumble' across it then they think they had had a great idea. You will find very few investors who think this is a bad deal for UA and share price is on the up so others definitely feel things are looking good.0
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It is all very well, but what does it mean for our Team UK group, now that we have a new overlord. Naturally, they will want to sell new products to us, but what do we want or need. It would be nice to have a wish list, from each active member of the group, so we can move forward with one voice. Let us hear from some of you active members.0
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Yes they do and Map my walk has a food bank. I too would miss the support I exchange on here but not the glitches and annoying chitchat threads which pop up continually. My bet is that we will see more advertising appear.Apparently Under Armour own Map my Walk/Run and they do a free version and a paid version so maybe MFP will be the same. Quite a few people have been asking for this option anyway0 -
Depends upon the charge. I'd pay if I used slimming world or weight watchers so would be willing to pay a certain stipend as long as it was sensible. That said if its like map my fitness and its got a free option would certainly take that0
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http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/4/7980793/under-armour-acquires-myfitnesspal-475-million worth watching the video. CEO and CPO talking about how it all started and where it is going0
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That is a great link. Well done for rooting it out and posting it.0
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Just had an e mail from Endomondo which I use to track my running/walking that they too have been acquired by Under armour !0
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Yes, the $475 million purchase was for both MyFitnessPal and Endomondo. They are seeking to corner the market in lifestyle software, as big corporates do. I think they will get a bit of a shock when they try to obtain a monetary return from these purchases.0
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maoribadger wrote: »Depends upon the charge. I'd pay if I used slimming world or weight watchers so would be willing to pay a certain stipend as long as it was sensible. That said if its like map my fitness and its got a free option would certainly take that
^This. I've long said I'd gladly pay for an ad-free version of MFP.
And maybe the new owners will make MFP even better.0 -
They have to make it better. The food database is full of unverified data and I continually find items, that according to MFP, has no sugar, but there is sugar on the labelling. I now treat all MFP data as indicative.
If you want it to remain free, then you are going to have to withstand a substantial increase in advertising.0 -
jamessteelapim wrote: »They have to make it better. The food database is full of unverified data and I continually find items, that according to MFP, has no sugar, but there is sugar on the labelling. I now treat all MFP data as indicative.
You absolutely must verify every database entry the first time you use it. Anyone can add anything they want, so there's lots of junk data in there. (Including calorie counts for human flesh!)0 -
I knew MFP was global and trying to appeal to all users, but cannibalism!!0
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Download an ad blocker if the ads bother you - works for me.
If we are using something for free, we are the commodity. We all know this.0 -
The database of calories must be worth a huge amount too - even though there are inaccuracies, it is still a huge amount of information.0
This discussion has been closed.