Seems a little steep, but sure.
Fyre Festival, the doomed-from-the-start music festival that never was, is one of the most notorious failures of the internet era. And now it can be yours! Well, it could have been if you got in on the eBay auction that sold off the rights to the Fyre Festival brand in Billy McFarland’s latest bid to pay back the $26 million in restitution that he still owes to the people he defrauded.
Unfortunately for McFarland, his plan to monetize the Fyre Festival name is barely going to put a dent in what he owes. The auction, which ended Tuesday morning, received 175 bids and ultimately sold for $245,300—about 1/10th of McFarland’s outstanding bill. The sale included the Fyre Festival name, its registered trademarks and intellectual property, social media accounts, and domain names. What is the value of all that? Well, McFarland says that Fyre Festival has amassed 32 billion online impressions since 2016, which is certainly a lot of traffic.
