By Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports

red sports takeover

Red Sports creator Leslie Tan (right) signs the contract to handover Red Sports to AFDJ Holdings, represented by its Chairman, Wong Hong Yong (left). “Hong Yong made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” said the Red Sports founder. (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Red Sports Headquarters, Thursday, April 1, 2010 - Marketing and consulting firm AFDJ Holdings has officially taken over the control and management of Red Sports. Founder of Red Sports Leslie Tan handed over the reins of the site at the signing-over ceremony just moments earlier.

"AFDJ [Holdings] made us an offer we could not refuse," Leslie shared. "[The amount they offered] was the biggest amount of money we have ever seen in our three years of operation!" AFDJ Holdings had taken interest in the site after it hit 10 million page views recently.

"They dropped me an email about one month ago, and we started discussing about the possibility of a collaboration. However, we eventually realized that a take over would be better for everyone," Leslie said. "Of course I had to ensure that our current crew and readers will not be left in the lurch. So we met up a couple of times to work out the finer details, as well as negotiate our terms of contract."

AFDJ Holdings Assistant Vice-President Ngee Pei Pien said, "We are very delighted that Red Sports is going to be a part of our family now. We recognize the pool of talent from the site, and we want to fully utilize this group of people for our marketing and consulting needs. Of course, we know that the site is dedicated to sports, and definitely has its base of readers."

Mr Ngee continued, "However, in line with our company's vision, we intend to channel the resources from Red Sports into our company's area of focus. With this, we regret to inform our readers that Red Sports will end operations by the end of April this year."

AFDJ Holdings Director of Operations Mdm Zheng Haw Seow shared the company's direction for Red Sports. "The government is currently trying to boost the fertility rate among Singaporeans. We aligned ourselves closely to the government's direction, and we want to do our part for society."

She added, "Currently, we have tied up with several multi-national companies who deal with infant-care products, and we will redesign Red Sports into a one-stop platform where everyone can gain access to information on infant-care products. We ran a contest with regards to changing the name of the site, and we have actually shortlisted a few potential names. Nothing is confirmed yet, but ´Red Babies' seem to be a favourite among many."

The photographers have been reassigned to take pictures of diapers and milk bottles as well as shoot pictures solely for the purpose of making babies smile. The writers will then try to come up with new nursery rhymes to go along with the pictures.

REDcrew Lai Jun Wei commented on the takeover. "Working with the site for so long, of course it's a pity to be unable to shoot sports anymore. But AFDJ Holdings has offered quite a substantial benefit package for all the crew. After going through the stress of working on Red Sports for the past few years, this comes as a relief for me as AFDJ [Holdings] promises a less hectic working environment. At the very least, we don't have to repeat ´You send it, we post it' anymore!"