The Lonely Planet sale

In my days of backpacking through the mid and late 80s, Lonely Planet books were by far the most reliable guidebooks to Asia and the more out of the way locations. Since the arrival of the Internet, their Thorn Tree forums have been invaluable when trying to find information on obscure destinations.

So it's heartening to hear the founders, Peter and Maureen Wheeler, have sold 40% of their stake to BBC for a reported $100 million.

I heard Maureen Wheeler on ABC Radio this morning and she said the reason for selling was because they found making money out of the websites too hard compared to making money publishing books.

That's an interesting perspective we can all dwell on. If it's too hard for content rich websites like Lonely Planet, how are humble blogs like this going to survive?

Incidentally, their announcement on the Lonely Planet website is absolutely terrific. A great example of how businesses can use the web.

I suspect they are being a bit too modest about their abilities to deal with the so-called new media.