Shiny Media saga ends with split in assets
The assets of UK blog network Shiny Media have been split between the company’s founders and investor Brightstation, finally putting an end to a messy ending.
The former Shiny Media fashion blogs Catwalk Queen, Kiss and Make Up, Bag Lady, Shoewawa, Crafty Crafty, Dollymix, Trashionista, Shiny Gloss, Star Trip and Nollie have gone to Aigua Media Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of Brightstation. The remaining blogs are now owned by Shiny Digital Ltd, a new company made up of Shiny Media’s founders.
It’s not clear from the report at Journalism.co.uk whether the original Shiny Media company will now be wound up due to it no longer having any assets, but you’d presume this would be the case.
The split of the assets is recent, with all sites still appearing to be branded as Shiny Media sites, although Aigua Media does have a page up. None of the sites we visited, including the masthead and original Shiny Shiny blog have been updated since July 16, so it’s not clear whether all titles will be revived, or even when.
The odd thing, or maybe sad thing to note about the whole Shiny Media saga is that the whole thing would appear to be nothing more than a dispute between the company and its investors. Despite having pushed the founders out and bringing in their own people, Brightstation obviously wanted more, and were willing to gut the company to get it. One thing is for sure: I don’t think there will be a lot of bloggers out there today who would go anywhere near Brightstation in the future, either as a potential investor or employer.
