AUSTIN, Tex. - Pancho Dog and its related affiliate programs and sites are for sale as parent company Wonton Media sets its sights on the billing business with the official launch of OakBill within several weeks.
"We've been working on OakBill for about three-and-half years now," Wonton Chief Executive Officer Rico Garrett told AVN Online. "We lost money to two processors that went down the tubes and it was very frustrating. But we have a lot of friends in the industry and felt we could offer a very solid platform of our own."
Garrett said his company's partnership with CCBill, however, has been stellar all the way.
"They're an extremely great processor and we have a great relationship" he said. "But it's time for us to move on as a billing company and time for us to focus on that end of it."
Wonton also has a Latin American payment company, Mi Al Cancia, in the works and projects marked growth ahead.
"This system we've been working on has extreme potential," he said. "There are over 150 million households in Latin America with broadband capability and it's growing exponentially. We've seen this growth, we're capitalizing on it, and we'll be ready to launch in April. We'll be able to accept direct deposits from most Latin American countries, including use of debit cards and in the future, mobile phones."
With the launch of the billing company creeping up, Garrett said his team needs to focus in that area. That's why the Pancho Dog network, which number some 75 sites, is on the block. This includes the affiliate sites We Convert, Crazy Bank, She Devil Dollars, and Cash From Stars.
According to Garrett, all programs will be merged under a single umbrella by the end of January under NATS, with a common administrator for CCBill affiliates.
But he is adamant that the sale is not a question of poor performance and it may not happen at all if offers aren't equitable.
"To tell you the truth, I don't think we're going to sell," Garrett said. "So far the offers are low balling to make a quick buck and for anyone that has such a solid infrastructure and sales, it doesn't make sense. So while I really would like to sell, I doubt that will happen."
Instead, Garrett sees stepping back from the Pancho Dog end of business and bringing in a new staff to oversee it.
"I think we'll end up hiring a general manager and putting a team in place that can run Pancho Dog under our direction," he said. "It'll definitely be more administrative than operative or hands-on for us. We'll be actively looking for a manager of our affiliate programs starting, probably, next week."
While Pancho Dog has been successful in picking up numerous programs over the years, Garrett told AVN Online the company's future is in billing.
"I would love to acquire more, but the billing industry is where our true calling lies," he said. "Obviously, the Latin American payments will create revenue for thousands of websites where it doesn't exist right now. The way I see it, it's all going to take off quite nicely."
