51-510: Red Ventures is an American media company that owns and operates brands such as Lonely Planet , The Points Guy , Healthline , and Bankrate . Red Ventures focuses on news, advice, and review websites. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Fort Mill, South Carolina , a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina . Red Ventures was founded as Red F on September 29, 1999, in Fort Mill, South Carolina by Ric Elias and Dan Feldstein. In 2003, it
102-520: A former co-founder and CEO of Refinery29 , was named head of the company. In 2022, Lonely Planet bought Elsewhere, a website that links travellers directly with experts who assist in designing trips. In 2024, Lonely Planet announced that it withdrew from the market in China and ceased publishing travel guides in simplified Chinese. Lonely Planet's online community, the Thorn Tree, was created in 1996. It
153-509: A machine to write articles, and for using human bylines on some AI-generated content until caught by independent investigators. CNET reviewed those articles in January 2023 after many were found to contain serious errors and plagiarized material. CNET reporters said Red Ventures pushed them to give more favourable coverage to advertisers and work on sponsored content. Subsequently, 10% of CNET staff were laid off. Employees unionized in response to
204-506: A major part of the company's business model moving forward. Following CNET publishing AI-generated stories containing errors and plagiarized content, as well as incorrect attributions to human writers, the Misplaced Pages community downgraded CNET's reliability, such that all content since the Red Ventures acquisition should not be considered reliable. Employees unionized in response to layoffs and
255-531: A monthly travel magazine called Lonely Planet Traveller . It is available in digital versions for a number of countries. Lonely Planet also had its own television production company, which has produced series, such as Globe Trekker , Lonely Planet Six Degrees , and Lonely Planet: Roads Less Travelled . Toby Amies and Asha Gill (both British TV presenters) took part in Lonely Planet Six Degrees. CNET CNET (short for "Computer Network")
306-451: A new user interface and the renaming of CNET TV as CNET Video. Red Ventures announced in September 2020 that it would acquire CNET from ViacomCBS for $ 500 million. The transaction was completed on October 30, 2020. In November 2022, CNET began publishing articles written with artificial intelligence and edited by humans. CNET was criticized for failing to disclose that it was using
357-460: A particular focus on financial content such as credit cards, as the media company gets payments in the hundreds of dollars for each customer that buys a credit card. Red Ventures also aims to get paid for guiding readers to buy drugs and medical consultations. The characterization came after the website Futurism found several articles published by Red Ventures properties, including CNET , were quietly written by artificial intelligence software , with
408-574: A result of the dot-com crash, the company ended the Gamecenter Alliance network in January 2001. On February 7, Gamecenter itself was closed in a redundancy reduction effort, as GameSpot was the more successful of the two sites. Around 190 jobs were cut from CNET during this period, including "at least 20" at Gamecenter , according to the San Francisco Chronicle . Discussing the situation, Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer reported, "It
459-524: A robust reviews section that it was led by Juan Garzon. After Red Ventures' acquisition, the company announced the closing of CNET en Español on November 11, 2020, leaving the largest tech site in Spanish in the US out of the market. In March 2014, CNET refreshed its site by merging with CNET UK and vowing to merge all editions of the agency into a unified agency. This merge brought many changes, foremost of which would be
510-431: Is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. CNET originally produced content for radio and television in addition to its website before applying new media distribution methods through its internet television network, CNET Video , and its podcast and blog networks. Founded in 1992 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it
561-420: Is deleted on its website, CNET creates an internal copy and another to Wayback Machine . The writer, if still employed by CNET, is also alerted 10 days in advance. Google said deleting articles to optimize for search engine rankings is not a good practice. In January 2024, Axios reported that Red Ventures was exploring a sale of the website, with a goal of attaining at least $ 250 million for it. The site
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#1732869729921612-403: Is free of spyware , but independent sources have confirmed that this is not the case. While Download.com is overall a safe place to download programs, precautions should be taken before downloading from the site, as some downloads do contain malware. In January 2023, Misplaced Pages editors began the process of downgrading CNET's reliability rating as a source following the revelation that CNET
663-553: Is named for a Naivasha thorn tree ( Acacia xanthophloea ) that has been used as a message board for the city of Nairobi , Kenya since 1902. The tree still exists in the Stanley Hotel, Nairobi . In April 2020, the forum was locked and left in read-only mode as part of Lonely Planet temporarily halting business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic . In September 2021, the Thorn Tree was shut down. In 2009, Lonely Planet began publishing
714-399: Is thought [...] that very few if any of the website's staff will move sideways into jobs at GameSpot , now the company's other gaming asset." The Washington Post later noted that Gamecenter was among the "popular video-game news sites" to close in 2001, alongside Daily Radar . In January 2013, CNET named Dish Network 's "Hopper with Sling " digital video recorder as a nominee for
765-608: The CES "Best in Show" award (which is decided by CNET on behalf of its organizers), and named it the winner in a vote by the site's staff. However, CBS abruptly disqualified the Hopper, and vetoed the results because the company was in active litigation with Dish Network. CNET also announced that it could no longer review any product or service provided by companies that CBS are in litigation with (which also includes Aereo ). The new vote subsequently gave
816-633: The Clear Channel -owned KNEW (910) in the San Francisco Bay Area , WBPS (890) in Boston , and XM Satellite Radio . CNET Radio offered technology-themed programming. After failing to attract a sufficient audience, CNET Radio ceased operating in January 2003 due to financial losses. In July 1999, CNET, Inc. acquired the Swiss -based company GDT, later renamed to CNET Channel. In 1998, CNET, Inc. granted
867-575: The 2000 sale of Ziff Davis to SoftBank , a publicly traded Japanese media and technology company. In April 2001, CNET acquired TechRepublic , which provides content for IT professionals from Gartner , for $ 23 million in cash and stock. In May 2002, CNET Networks acquired Smartshop, an automated product catalog and feature comparison technology company, for an undisclosed amount. On July 14, 2004, CNET Networks announced that it would acquire photography website Webshots for $ 70 million ($ 60 million in cash, $ 10 million in deferred consideration), completing
918-514: The Best in Show award to the Razer Edge tablet instead. Dish Network's CEO Joe Clayton said that the company was "saddened that CNET's staff is being denied its editorial independence because of CBS' heavy-handed tactics." On January 14, 2013, editor-in-chief Lindsey Turrentine addressed the situation, stating that CNET's staff were in an "impossible" situation due to the conflict of interest posed by
969-504: The CEA, stating that "making television easier to watch is not against the law. It is simply pro-innovation and pro-consumer." Shapiro felt that the decision also hurt the confidence of CNET's readers and staff, "destroying its reputation for editorial integrity in an attempt to eliminate a new market competitor." As a result of the controversy and fearing damage to the show's brand, the CEA announced on January 31, 2013, that CNET will no longer decide
1020-573: The CES Best in Show award winner due to the interference of CBS (the position has been offered to other technology publications), and the "Best in Show" award was jointly awarded to both the Hopper with Sling and Razer Edge. With a catalog of more than 400,000 titles, the Downloads section of the website allows users to download popular software. CNET's download.com provides Windows , Macintosh , and mobile software for download. CNET claims that this software
1071-694: The Cheap , had 94 pages; it was written by the couple in their home. The original 1973 print run consisted of stapled booklets with pale blue cardboard covers. Wheeler returned to Asia to write Across Asia on the Cheap: A Complete Guide to Making the Overland Trip , published in 1975. The Lonely Planet guide book series initially expanded to cover other countries in Asia, with the India guide book in 1981, and expanded to rest of
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#17328697299211122-513: The Melbourne office, at which Lonely Planet authors would arrive in limousines. In 2007, the Wheelers and John Singleton sold a 75% stake in the company to BBC Worldwide , worth an estimated £63 million at the time. The company was publishing 500 titles and ventured into television production. BBC Worldwide struggled following the acquisition, registering a £3.2 million loss in the year to
1173-704: The USPS change-of-address process. On August 6, 2024, The New York Times reported that Red Ventures was selling the CNET Media Group for $ 100 million to Ziff Davis , with the deal expected to close in the third quarter of 2024. In 2023, The Verge described the business model of the company as "publish[ing] content designed to rank highly in Google search for "high-intent" queries and ... monet[izing] that traffic with lucrative affiliate links ". Stories are aimed at people who are likely to buy something ("high-intent"), with
1224-502: The acquisition brought both GameSpot and Gamecenter under CNET, Inc.'s ownership. Later that year, The New York Times described the two publications as the " Time and Newsweek of gaming sites". The paper reported that Gamecenter "seem[ed] to be thriving" amid the dot-com crash , with its revenue distributed across online advertising and an affiliate sales program with CNET's Game Shopper website, launched in late 1999. Following an almost $ 400 million loss at CNET as
1275-479: The acquisition that same month. In October 2007, it sold Webshots to American Greetings for $ 45 million. In August 2005, CNET Networks acquired Metacritic , a review aggregation website , for an undisclosed amount. In 2005, Google representatives refused to be interviewed by all CNET reporters for a year after CNET published Google's CEO Eric Schmidt 's salary and named the neighborhood where he lives, as well as some of his hobbies and political donations. All
1326-478: The company has printed over 150 million books. Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler . In 1972, they embarked on an overland trip through Europe and Asia to Australia, following the route of the Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition . The company name originates from the misheard "lovely planet" in a song written by Matthew Moore . Lonely Planet's first book, Across Asia on
1377-485: The company ownership of publications including GameSpot , Metacritic , TV Guide , Chowhound , GameFAQs , Giant Bomb , Cord Cutters News, Comic Vine , and ZDNET . On December 1, 2020, Red Ventures bought Lonely Planet from Tennessee-based NC2 Media for an undisclosed amount. In 2021, the company had 4,500 employees and 751 million readers per month. It acquired Healthgrades.com from Mercury Healthcare for an undisclosed amount. It closed Chowhound that year. In 2022,
1428-545: The company sold the websites GameSpot , Metacritic , TV Guide , GameFAQs , Giant Bomb , Comic Vine and Cord Cutters to Fandom, Inc. . That year, it partnered with UnitedHealth Group 's Optum Health to launch RVO Health. In May 2023, Red Ventures agreed to pay the United States $ 2.75 million to resolve a whistleblower's allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by underpaying on contracts connected to
1479-452: The end of March 2009. By the end of March 2010, profits of £1.9 million had been generated, as digital revenues had risen 37% year-on-year over the preceding 12 months, a Lonely Planet magazine had grown and non-print revenues increased from 9% in 2007 to 22%. Lonely Planet's digital presence included 140 apps and 8.5 million unique users for lonelyplanet.com, which hosted the Thorn Tree travel forum. In 2011, BBC Worldwide acquired
1530-533: The information had been gleaned from Google searches. In September 2006, CNET acquired Chowhound , an online food community. On October 10, 2006, Shelby Bonnie resigned as chairman and CEO , in addition to two other executives, as a result of a stock options backdating scandal that occurred between 1996 and 2003. This would also cause the firm to restate its financial earnings over 1996 to 2003 for over $ 105 million in resulting expenses. The Securities and Exchange Commission later dropped an investigation into
1581-533: The practice. Neil Ashe was named as the new CEO. In December 2006, James Kim , an editor at CNET, died in the Oregon wilderness. CNET hosted a memorial show and podcasts dedicated to him. On March 1, 2007, CNET announced the public launch of BNET, a website targeted towards business managers. BNET had been running under beta status since 2005. In 2008 programmer Chris Wanstrath , who worked on GameSpot and Chowhound, left CNET to start GitHub . On May 15, 2008, it
Red Ventures - Misplaced Pages Continue
1632-646: The remaining 25% of the company for £42.1 million (A$ 67.2 million) from the Wheelers. By 2012, BBC wanted to divest itself of the company and in March 2013 confirmed the sale of Lonely Planet to Brad Kelley 's NC2 Media for US$ 77.8 million (£51.5 million), at nearly an £80 million (US$ 118.89 million) loss. In December 2020, NC2 Media sold Lonely Planet to Red Ventures for an undisclosed amount. Lonely Planet offices continue to operate in Dublin , Nashville and New Delhi . Phillippe von Borries,
1683-510: The right to Asiacontent.com to set up CNET Asia and the operation was brought back in December 2000. In January 2000, the same time CNET, Inc. became CNET Networks, it acquired comparison shopping site mySimon for $ 736 million. In October 2000, CNET Networks acquired ZDNET for approximately $ 1.6 billion. In January 2001, Ziff Davis reached an agreement with CNET Networks to regain the URLs lost in
1734-527: The risk to their professional reputations. Red Ventures subsequently attempted to sell CNET for $ 250 million; the approximate halving of CNET's value under Red Ventures' ownership is attributed to interest rates, a slower ad market, and potential buyers expressing concern at the reputational damage of the AI scandals. Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973,
1785-429: The scandal and layoffs, saying AI-generated content posed a danger to their professional reputations. A former staffer demanded that her byline be removed from the site, in order to protect her reputation if her articles were revised by AI. In August 2023, CNET had deleted thousands of old articles from their website in an effort to raise the search engine optimization rankings on Google Search . Before an article
1836-551: The site received between 50,000 and 75,000 daily visitors by late 2000. In May 2000, CNET founded the Gamecenter Alliance network to bring Gamecenter and four partner websites, including Inside Mac Games , under one banner. Nielsen//NetRatings ranked Gamecenter the sixth-most-popular gaming website in the United States by mid-2000. On July 19, 2000, CNET, Inc. made public its plan to buy Ziff-Davis and its ZDNet Internet business for $ 1.6 billion. Because ZDNet had partnered with SpotMedia—parent company of GameSpot —in late 1996,
1887-542: The site's owner, had its initial public offering (IPO) in July 1996. In 1998, CNET, Inc. was sued by Snap Technologies, operators of the education service CollegeEdge, for trademark infringement relating to CNET, Inc.'s ownership of the domain name Snap.com, due to Snap Technologies already owning a trademark on its name . CNET produced another television technology news program called News.com that aired on CNBC beginning in 1999. From 2001 to 2003, it operated CNET Radio on
1938-486: The situation, and promised that she would do everything within her power to prevent a similar incident from occurring again. The conflict also prompted one CNET senior writer, Greg Sandoval, to resign. The decision also drew the ire of staff from the Consumer Electronics Association , the organizers of CES; CEO Gary J. Shapiro criticized the decision in a USA Today op-ed column and a statement by
1989-483: The size of its headquarters and bought postal services company Imagitas from Pitney Bowes for $ 310 million. The acquisition was in large part due to Imagitas' exclusive 10 year partnership with USPS to facilitate the official Change of Address process, which roughly 40 million people used each year. Red Ventures acquired Soda.com in 2016. In 2017, it acquired several companies including Choose Energy, Allconnect and Bankrate , Inc. (including The Points Guy ). Bankrate
2040-976: The stories containing numerous inaccuracies and instances of plagiarism. Red Ventures announced layoffs at CNET a few weeks after the reports from The Verge and Futurism , which the company says were unrelated. Futurism additionally highlighted undisclosed AI-generated, SEO -focused content produced by Red Ventures's education division (internally RV EDU ). This content promotes schools with which Red Ventures maintains affiliate agreements, such as University of Phoenix (a for-profit college owned by Apollo Global Management ) and Liberty University (founded by conservative activist and Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell ). Websites operated by RV EDU include BestColleges.com, TheBestSchools.org, NurseJournal.org, ComputerScience.org, and Psychology.org, "as well as numerous sites with domain names that imply they're nonprofits". In July 2023, Elias announced that AI-generated content, both editorial content and targeted advertisements, would be
2091-485: The world later on. Geoff Crowther was renowned for frequently inserting his opinions into the text of the guides he wrote. His writing was instrumental to the rise of Lonely Planet. The journalist used the term "Geoffness", in tribute to Crowther, to describe a quality that has been lost in travel guides. By 1999, Lonely Planet had sold 30 million copies of its travel guides. The company's authors consequently benefited from profit-sharing and expensive events were held at
Red Ventures - Misplaced Pages Continue
2142-553: Was acquired by Ziff Davis . After leaving PepsiCo , Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie launched c/net, a 24-hour cable network about computers and technology in 1992. With help from Fox Network co-founder Kevin Wendle and former Disney creative associate Dan Baker, CNET produced four pilot television programs about computers, technology, and the Internet. CNET TV was composed of CNET Central , The Web , and The New Edge . CNET Central
2193-527: Was acquired for $ 1.24 billion in cash in a deal announced July 3, 2017. HigherEducation.com and Healthline were acquired in 2019. By 2020, the company had grown into an international presence with more than 100 brands, 3,000 employees, and operations in the United Kingdom and Brazil. On September 14, 2020, Red Ventures agreed to purchase the CNET Media Group from ViacomCBS for $ 500 million. This gave
2244-510: Was announced that CBS Corporation would buy CNET Networks for US$ 1.8 billion. On June 30, 2008, the acquisition was completed. Former CNET Networks properties were managed under CBS Interactive at the time. CBS Interactive acquired many domain names originally created by CNET Networks, including download.com , downloads.com, upload.com, news.com, search.com, TV.com , mp3.com , chat.com, computers.com, shopper.com, com.com, and cnet.com. It also held radio.com until CBS Radio
2295-580: Was completed in the third quarter of 2024. France websites: Japan websites: CNET launched a website to cover video games , CNET Gamecenter , in the middle of 1996. According to the San Francisco Chronicle , it was "one of the first Web sites devoted to computer gaming news". It became a leading game-focused website; in 1999, PC Magazine named it one of the hundred-best websites in any field, alongside competitors IGN and GameSpot . According to Gamecenter head Michael Brown,
2346-599: Was created first and aired in syndication in the United States on the USA Network . Later, it began airing on USA's sister network Sci-Fi Channel along with The Web and The New Edge . These were later followed by TV.com in 1996. Media personality Ryan Seacrest first came to national prominence at CNET, as the host of The New Edge and doing various voice-over work for CNET. CNET online launched in June 1995. CNET, Inc.,
2397-463: Was introduced, claiming that CNET and CBS Interactive knowingly distributed LimeWire. On September 19, 2013, CBS Interactive launched a Spanish language sister site under the name CNET en Español. It focuses on topics of relevance primarily to Spanish-speaking technology enthusiasts. The site offered a "new perspective" on technology and is under the leadership of managing editor Gabriel Sama. The site not only offered news and tutorials, but also had
2448-495: Was launched as Red Ventures, beginning with DIRECTV (DirectstarTV brand). It acquired Modern Consumer in 2008. In 2010, General Atlantic invested in Red Ventures, and its managing director Anton Levy joined the board of directors. They acquired homeinsurance.com in 2012, which included a satellite office in Wilmington, North Carolina . In 2015, the company got a $ 250 million investment from Silver Lake . That same year, it doubled
2499-462: Was profitable at the time. The approximate halving of CNET's value under Red Ventures' ownership is attributed to interest rates, a slower ad market, and the reputational damage to CNET caused by the AI scandals. On August 6, 2024, the New York Times reported that Red Ventures had reached an agreement to sell CNET to Ziff Davis for $ 100 million, subject to regulatory approval. The acquisition
2550-467: Was sold to Entercom in 2017. In 2011, CNET and CBS Interactive were sued by a coalition of artists (led by FilmOn founder Alki David) for copyright infringement by promoting the download of LimeWire , a popular peer to peer downloading software. Although the original suit was voluntarily dropped by Alki David, he vowed to sue at a later date to bring "expanded" action against CBS Interactive. In November 2011, another lawsuit against CBS Interactive
2601-578: Was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through that unit's acquisition of CNET Networks in 2008. Following acquisition by Red Ventures on October 30, 2020, the website faced criticism for the decline in quality of its editorial content and its factual unreliability due to the use of generative AI in the creation of its articles, as well as concerns over its journalistic integrity after it began increased publication of biased reviews and sponsored content to benefit its advertising partners. On October 1, 2024, CNET
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