PHUKET: Concerns about our future health mean we've decided to put Phuketwan up for sale. So place your bid please, the sooner the better, between now and December 31.
Our concern is not about physical or mental health - although that's still being questioned - but our financial wellbeing.
Phuketwan has set new standards for editorial coverage of Phuket's key issues and other important topics that extend around the region.
But so far we've devoted all our energy to reporting and Phuket problem-solving, not to sales and marketing.
Between now and December 31, we'd be prepared to consider all options for purchase or investment. We'd also be prepared to consider working on in the same way, too.
Phuketwan has always invited readers along for the ride and been far more revealing than most because of our commitment to ethics and transparency.
At some other well-known news organisations, including national broadcasting services, making money is not the prime motivation.
The trust-funded Guardian newspaper, for example, is actually expanding around the world, opening new online sites in the US and Australia as rival newspapers shrivel.
On Phuket, English-language readers have never had it so good since Phuketwan began on January 1, 2008, and others followed.
That said, newspapers in the US, Europe and Australia are already disappearing. Large numbers of staff are being reduced as circulation declines and readers move to digital delivery.
The problem is in making the same profit online as was once possible in print.
Phuketwan is ideally placed because there is no newspaper, just online. We have a substantial and growing audience, a clear identity, a good reputation and a staff just one tenth the size of rivals.
Our outlook now will be to grow, not shrink.
But we do need an investor who shares our desire to change Phuket for the better, for the sake of all its stakeholders.
As optimists we are sure, with change on the way and the Asean Economic Community coming, the future of Phuket and of Phuketwan remains remarkably bright.
Our concern is not about physical or mental health - although that's still being questioned - but our financial wellbeing.
Phuketwan has set new standards for editorial coverage of Phuket's key issues and other important topics that extend around the region.
But so far we've devoted all our energy to reporting and Phuket problem-solving, not to sales and marketing.
Between now and December 31, we'd be prepared to consider all options for purchase or investment. We'd also be prepared to consider working on in the same way, too.
Phuketwan has always invited readers along for the ride and been far more revealing than most because of our commitment to ethics and transparency.
At some other well-known news organisations, including national broadcasting services, making money is not the prime motivation.
The trust-funded Guardian newspaper, for example, is actually expanding around the world, opening new online sites in the US and Australia as rival newspapers shrivel.
On Phuket, English-language readers have never had it so good since Phuketwan began on January 1, 2008, and others followed.
That said, newspapers in the US, Europe and Australia are already disappearing. Large numbers of staff are being reduced as circulation declines and readers move to digital delivery.
The problem is in making the same profit online as was once possible in print.
Phuketwan is ideally placed because there is no newspaper, just online. We have a substantial and growing audience, a clear identity, a good reputation and a staff just one tenth the size of rivals.
Our outlook now will be to grow, not shrink.
But we do need an investor who shares our desire to change Phuket for the better, for the sake of all its stakeholders.
As optimists we are sure, with change on the way and the Asean Economic Community coming, the future of Phuket and of Phuketwan remains remarkably bright.
