Billy McFarland‘s doomed effort to revive Fyre Fest has lastly come to an finish with the sale of the failed pageant model on eBay earlier right now.
McFarland bought the rights to the troubled model, together with its IP, model emblems and social media property, on eBay on Tuesday (July 15) for $245,300. Bids have been collected for over one week, with greater than 175 bids made by 42 bidders earlier than the ultimate bid was accepted at 12:44 p.m. ET.
“Rattling. This sucks, it’s so low,” stated McFarland, who was livestreaming the public sale, when the ultimate bids got here in. McFarland didn’t disclose the client of the pageant, however did observe it was a well-known model and easily stated “it’s humorous” with out revealing the identify. After the public sale ended, McFarland congratulated the winner and stated he seemed ahead to facilitating the switch of Fyre to a brand new purchaser and shifting on to one thing new.
“Fyre Pageant is only one chapter of my story, and I’m excited to maneuver on to my subsequent one,” McFarland stated on social media.
McFarland tried to stage the primary Fyre Pageant in 2017, promising followers a high-end music expertise on a Caribbean Island with celebrities and social media influencers. However when visitors arrived, they discovered an underwhelming mess, with catastrophe tents rather than high-end villas and cheese sandwiches as a substitute of high-end, chef-produced meals.
McFarland was finally charged with a number of counts of fraud and ended up serving a number of years in jail. He was additionally ordered to repay his victims greater than $26 million in restitution.
Whereas in jail, McFarland got here up with an concept to strive staging Fyre Fest once more, eventually settling on Isla Mujeres close to Cancun, Mexico, as a possible host website for a scaled-down model of the pageant. As soon as native officers denounced the proposal, the pageant was moved to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, the place native officers finally denied any knowledge of the occasion, resulting in its cancellation.
The winner of the public sale for Fyre Fest will obtain management of the Fyre Fest model, all of its emblems and mental property, in addition to management over its social media accounts and web sites.
The winner will obtain management of the Fyre Fest model identify, emblems and mental property, social media accounts, advertising and marketing supplies and domains. They’ll additionally obtain Fyre Pageant’s SMS and electronic mail advertising and marketing lists.
The public sale is the third IP deal for Fyre Pageant this yr. Earlier this yr, McFarland licensed the Fyre identify to a streaming video service and partnered with a hotel owner in Honduras to stage a pop-up Fyre occasion.