play.com sold...for £25M???

caLLous

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With no actual knowledge of the company's size (just based on the fact that I've known about it for years and have always seen people using it), I would agree that that is a steal. I thought it was one of the bigger online retailers tbh.
 

dysfunction

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Perhaps it hasn't made much money...
If it's financials are in a mess then perhaps £25m isnt that much of a steal....but yes on first look it does seem to be a bit of a bargain!


edit: seems to be the price is just reflecting the Jersey tax loophole closure
 

DaGaffer

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Perhaps it hasn't made much money...
If it's financials are in a mess then perhaps £25m isnt that much of a steal....but yes on first look it does seem to be a bit of a bargain!

Last I heard it turns over about £500M, but there will be fuck all margin in that, so they could be making as little as £5-£10M profit (which would explain the £25M price - 2.5 x profit), but, it still seems low because I would have thought the brand itself would have a lot more value; I could definitely see a Play version of Netflix or a Play e-reader etc. but maybe they just know that Amazon are too far ahead of them in that game.

Its a scary story for the likes of HMV or GAME, shows the decreasing worth of the whole physical media goods sector, even if its online box shifting rather than bricks and mortar, its still box-shifting, and that business is soon to be dead.
 

Embattle

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Competition, law changes and in general areas that suffer deflation make it rather hard to make a real profit.
 

pez

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That tax loophole is huge. Its why Play, Tesco Entertainment etc are all so cheap as they base themselves on Jersey. Once it closes, lets see if they competete so well..
 

Billargh

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I've not really considered Play to be one of the cheapest in years tbh, everything I would buy from there can be bought cheaper at other online stores or hell, even high street stores etc.
 

Ch3tan

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I find HMV is nearly always cheaper than play. Play is good for random gadgets or t-shirts on sale. Good place to sell your second hand games too.
 

Ctuchik

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Doesn't play.com have a somewhat shoddy delivery reputation though?

Always seems to be someone complaining about delayed preorders and other stuff (or was that game?)...

Bad reputation hurts quite a bit when it comes to selling a company.
 

FuzzyLogic

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Always had good experiences with Play meself. Thor arrived this morning which was nice :)

Had a couple of occasions where the item didn't turn up but they've always posted a replacement no questions asked.
 

Raven

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They were good 5 years ago.

Utter waste of time these days. If they go out of stock they don't bother telling you, they just don't deliver it.

I just use Amazon now.
 

kiliarien

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I agree with sentiments of some others here; it used to be the place to go when delivery was free etc. years ago but they haven't stayed competitive imo.

Reading other articles, the buyers have also bought the debt so that explains the low cost. It seems to me this Japanese company want an established name they can then work from to get a piece of the UK market. I'm all for it if they keep prices low and service remains high.
 

Sar

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They were good 5 years ago.

Utter waste of time these days. If they go out of stock they don't bother telling you, they just don't deliver it.

I just use Amazon now.

Same here. I don't even purchase games retail now, I either Steam it or go to Amazon myself.
 

MYstIC G

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Play set the benchmark for Jersey operations back in the day. In recent times everyone caught up and moved past. Play isn't even that cheap these days as has already been pointed out.
 

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