Billy McFarland‘s doomed effort to revive Fyre Fest has finally come to an end with the sale of the failed festival brand on eBay earlier today.
McFarland sold the rights to the troubled brand, including its IP, brand trademarks and social media assets, on eBay on Tuesday (July 15) for $245,300. Bids were collected for over one week, with more than 175 bids made by 42 bidders before the final bid was accepted at 12:44 p.m. ET.
“Damn. This sucks, it’s so low,” said McFarland, who was livestreaming the auction, when the final bids came in. McFarland did not disclose the buyer of the festival, but did note it was a familiar brand and simply said “it’s funny” without revealing the name. After the auction ended, McFarland congratulated the winner and said he looked forward to facilitating the transfer of Fyre to a new buyer and moving on to something new.
“Fyre Festival is just one chapter of my story, and I’m excited to move on to my next one,” McFarland said on social media.
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McFarland attempted to stage the first Fyre Festival in 2017, promising fans a high-end music experience on a Caribbean Island with celebrities and social media influencers. But when guests arrived, they found an underwhelming mess, with disaster tents in place of high-end villas and cheese sandwiches instead of high-end, chef-produced meals.
McFarland was eventually charged with multiple counts of fraud and ended up serving several years in prison. He was also ordered to repay his victims more than $26 million in restitution.
While in prison, McFarland came up with an idea to try staging Fyre Fest again, eventually settling on Isla Mujeres near Cancun, Mexico, as a potential host site for a scaled-down version of the festival. Once local officials denounced the proposal, the festival was moved to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, where local officials eventually denied any knowledge of the event, leading to its cancellation.
The winner of the auction for Fyre Fest will receive control of the Fyre Fest brand, all of its trademarks and intellectual property, as well as control over its social media accounts and websites.
The winner will receive control of the Fyre Fest brand name, trademarks and intellectual property, social media accounts, marketing materials and domain names. They’ll also receive Fyre Festival’s SMS and email marketing lists.
The auction is the third IP deal for Fyre Festival this year. Earlier this year, McFarland licensed the Fyre name to a streaming video service and partnered with a hotel owner in Honduras to stage a pop-up Fyre event.
