Last week Billy McFarland announced that he was auctioning the IP, trademarks, and assets of his infamous Fyre Fest on eBay. Bidding started at one cent last Tuesday, and exactly one week later, it's been sold for $245,300.
The auction gives the buyer access to the Fyre Fest brand name, registered trademarks and IP, social media accounts, marketing assets, and Fyre Fest domains, with current carve-outs for a theater project, a TV platform, and music streaming platform. That streamer is launching independently, thanks to a deal McFarland inked with Chris Hansen associate Shawn Rech.
eBay keeps bidders' information anonymous to the public, but we can see that the person who bought Fyre Fest has not been active in the past year. There were 175 bids total on the listing with 42 bidders total, and five bid retractions. “This sucks,” McFarland said while livestreaming the auction close. “It’s so low.” He added that the winner was a brand people would be familiar with.
McFarland has said he still owes $26 million to the initial Fyre investors, and it looks like he hasn't completely written off attempting to launch another festival.
UPDATE: McFarland has shared a statement congratulating the anonymous new owner of Fyre Fest. He claims that "the auction became the most-watched non-charity listing on eBay, proving once again that attention is currency." If only attention could pay back debt.
