FYI, the Times covered the same story here:

[bits.blogs.nytimes.com]

Adorama is one of the two best camera stores in the city, the other being B&H, both of which are owned and run primarily by Hassidic Jews. I don't really know why that particular hassidic detail needed to be in the second graf of this post though, and the fact that it did appear after the group of investors was called "shadowy" in the graf above it, and the sale "fishy" makes it seem a little anti-semitic.

Additionally, you wrote that it's fishy for 8020 Media to be acquired by 8020 Media, but that's an error, at least according to the memo sent out by Fox. It says 8020 Publishing LLC is being bought 8020 Media Inc. So, unless the Fox memo is inaccurate, you got the name of the company wrong in the first sentence of the post.

Lastly, I fail to see what's fishy about the sale. This is a positive development for the magazine, and a pretty remarkable one considering the times we live in, and it's a win for the photography community.

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The reason we own large percentages is becuase we are not like a traditional VC. We don't take business plans but rather follow our own ideas and seek out people to partner with and fund them. Most CEO's had no intention of starting a business when we contacted them.

We had to make the tough decision about what in our portfolio might have to find another home. Many of our businesses are cash flow positive but 8020 is not and we first tried large publishers who need the business but don't know it yet unfortunately. Then we received a huge outpouring of support from people on the net who wanted to keep it alive which was very gratifying. If all goes well it won't miss a beat and a company that I am personally very fond of will be able to continue.

We build businesses that are interesting to us and are a challenge and let us work with interesting people. Not all will work but a surprising percentage actually have to date.

Hopefully JPG will find a good home and we can maintain our track record of having each business we have started to date go on to be successful as an innovative product and a business.

And lastly unkle_jeremy if only my feeble mind could remember events so vividly 12 years ago. Most people can't even describe a purse being snatched accurately 2 minutes later. However you remember such ancient events so vividly PLEASE let me know since i am forgetful to start with -- today -- and God only knows what it'll be like in 20 years.

Thanks.

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