publisher . for the theatrical work see lonely planet play . for the song see lonely planet song . lonely planet type private subsidiary industry multi media genre travel guides founded 1972 founder tony wheeler maureen wheeler headquarters melbourne australia area served worldwide key people daniel houghton ceo naveen seshadri coo theodore sathananthan cfo products travel guidebook digital applications online community number of employees 400 staff 200 authors 1 parent nc2 media website lonelyplanet.com maureen and tony wheeler co founders of lonely planet lonely planet is the largest travel guide book publisher in the world . 2 the company is owned by nc2 media owned by american billionaire brad kelley 3 which bought it in 2013 from bbc worldwide for us 77 million the equivalent of 45.5 million in may 2014 after it was valued at us 250 million in 2008 . 4 5 originally called lonely planet publications the company changed its name to lonely planet in july 2009 to reflect its broad travel industry coverage and an emphasis on digital products . after the let s go travel guide series that was founded in 1960 the lonely planet books were the second series of travel books aimed at backpackers and other low cost travellers . as of 2011 update lonely planet had sold 120 million books since inception and by early 2014 it had sold around 11 million units of its travel apps . 5 as of 2014 update lonely planet s largest office is located in footscray a suburb of melbourne australia but after the nc2 acquisition its franklin tennessee united states u.s. office has become the company s de facto headquarters . other lonely planet offices are spread throughout the world in locations such as london united kingdom u.k. ; beijing china ; and delhi india . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 expansion 1.3 purchase by bbc worldwide 1.4 nc2 media acquisition 1.5 appointment of new ceo and restructure 1.6 houghton and nc2 media era 2 other media 2.1 internet presence 2.2 magazine 2.3 television series 3 controversies 4 in popular culture 5 references 6 external links history edit early years edit lonely planet s guide to australia 16th edition 2011 lonely planet was founded by married couple maureen and tony wheeler . tony graduated from the university of warwick and london business school and was a former engineer at the chrysler corporation . the pair met in london in 1970 and in july 1972 they embarked on an overland trip through europe and asia eventually arriving in australia in december 1972 . the route they followed was first undertaken by vehicle on the 1955 oxford cambridge overland expedition . 6 7 the company name originated from tony s appreciation of a misheard line in space captain a song written by matthew moore and first popularized by joe cocker and leon russell on the mad dogs & englishmen tour of 1970 the actual lyrics are lovely planet . 8 the couple wrote lonely planet s first book across asia on the cheap 9 consisting of 94 pages in their home . 10 the original print run comprised stapled booklets and sold out . 11 following the success of the original booklet tony returned to asia with the deliberate intention of writing a travel guide and published across asia on the cheap a complete guide to making the overland trip in 1975 . 10 12 in october 2007 observer writer carol cadwalladr who coauthored travellers survival kit lebanon described the book as canonical . 10 across asia on the cheap offers advice from amateur travelers who have completed the overland trip from london england to sydney australia in just under six months . such advice for example includes the importance of not mentioning arch enemies iran or israel in iraq as it is a very hard line socialist arab country ; casual observations such as their description of singapore as a groovy place ; tips of an illegal nature such as where to obtain fake identification or an explanation why one should have their last drag of the drug cannabis before they arrive at the iranian border ; and emergency options for people in need of money for instance places that have a good price for blood are identified . 5 10 during the 1970s traveling was considered an aspect of the counterculture and tony said in 2013 the boomers were setting off to places their parents hadn t gone . what became known as the hippie trail was a popular route for such travelers as the price of travel dropped and numerous asian travel companies were launched . 11 cadwalladr explained in 2007 that the introduction of the across asia on the cheap booklet was a generational call to arms as it contained tony s motivational cry all you ve got to do is decide to go and the hardest part is over . so go . cadwalladr further states that the wheelers peers throughout the world subsequently made the decision to travel regardless of whether or not they possessed a lonely planet guide . other travel guide brand names also emerged in the early 1970s such as rough guides and bradt travel guides . 10 the popularity of the hippie trail combined with the success of the original lonely planet publications led the wheelers to further develop the brand they had founded . the couple discovered writers in bars and told people that if they could return to australia with a completed book then lonely planet would publish it . tony explained you couldn t just look for travel book writers because they weren t out there . there wasn t such an animal . we just told people that if you turn up in a year and a half with a book we ll publish it and we did . it was very rough and ready . 11 the popularity of the overland route taken by the wheelers in 1972 declined when iran s borders closed in 1979 . 6 7 expansion edit the lonely planet guide book series initially expanded in asia with the india guide book that was first published in 1981 13 but progressively became a dominant brand in the rest of the world as consumers appreciated the guides style described by former ceo judy slatyer as telling it like it is without fear or favor . 5 tony explained in 2013 as part of the brand s 40 year anniversary that working with the company s early writers who were primarily travelers was often challenging one writer came back with a 600 page guide to jamaica every pirate who stopped in got his biography and we had to cut it by two thirds ... for a long time we had a problem that every writer wanted to rewrite the history . we d say why are we rewriting the history of india for the 10th time surely it s not changing every two years . 11 in a 2007 interview tony discussed one of the original lonely planet writers geoff crowther who wrote guides for india south america africa . and korea . crowther was renowned for frequently inserting his opinions into the text of the guides he wrote giving the guide books real gritty and politically incorrect passion and sometimes covering topics such as where to purchase the best hashish . his writing was instrumental to the rise of lonely planet . tony explained in the same interview that crowther was at that time a broken man living in goa while the journalist used the term geoffness in tribute to crowther to describe a quality that has been lost over time in travel guides . 10 however crowther at the time was not living in goa nor was he a broken man ; instead he was living in the rainforests of east coast australia . by 1999 lonely planet had sold 30 million copies of its travel guides and by this stage the company was recognized beyond hippie trail adventurers and wealthier readers were an established part of the readership . the company s authors consequently benefited from profit sharing and expensive events were held at the melbourne office at which limousines would arrive filled with lonely planet employees . 5 by 2007 lonely planet had officially been classified as a superbrand having published over 500 titles sold 80 million titles and been translated into more than eight languages . cadwalladr relayed a rumor that during one of his visits to australia bill clinton requested an audience with the prime minister and someone from lonely planet . 10 lonely planet headquarters in footscray purchase by bbc worldwide edit in october 2007 the wheelers and australian businessman john singleton who became a shareholder in 1999 negotiated a put option agreement with bbc worldwide the commercial arm of the bbc resulting in the latter s purchase of a 75 % stake in the company worth an estimated 63 million at the time ; 10 the wheelers retained the other 25 % . 14 15 16 a put options frees the owner from any obligation to sell a specified amount of an underlying security at a specified price within a specified time and instead provides the owner with the right to make such a sale . 17 the deal was led by david king chief financial officer and ian watson international director and advice was provided by deloitte corporate finance and blake dawson waldron in australia . 14 managing director of bbc worldwide s global brands division marcus arthur who became the chairman of lonely planet after the finalization of the agreement explained in 2011 that implementing a put option arrangement allowed the bbc to benefit from the wheelers experience over the last three and a half years further explaining that the founding couple supported lonely planet s ongoing migration from a traditional book publisher to a multi platform brand . 18 in the bbc press release published on october 1 2007 the bbc worldwide ceo at the time john smith explained lonely planet is a highly respected international brand and a global leader in the provision of travel information . this deal fits well with our strategy to create one of the world s leading content businesses to grow our portfolio of content brands online and to increase our operations in australia and america . 14 the wheelers also shared their motivation in the press release stating we felt that bbc worldwide would provide a platform true to our vision and values while allowing us to take the business to the next level . 14 the founders have since written an autobiographical book titled once while travelling the lonely planet story 19 known as unlikely destinations the lonely planet story in north america 8 describing their relationship their initial overland journey and the founding of lonely planet . citation needed slatyer was the ceo of lonely planet at the time and in addition to the melbourne headquarters offices existed in the u.s. and the u.k. the company was publishing 500 titles and the next level that the wheelers referred to involved ventures such as the production of the third season of its flagship television series lonely planet six degrees in partnership with discovery networks and screened in over 100 countries the company s website which was attracting 4.3 million unique visitors each month and the further development of lonelyplanet.tv lonely planet s travel video website that was used by an online community of travelers who could upload and watch their own videos as well as those created by lonely planet . 14 also in 2007 companies in the same category were making significant changes to their business operations . in early 2007 bradt guides founder hilary bradt announced her retirement alongside veteran independent publisher charles james of vacation work both founded their companies in the early 1970s like the wheelers . then shortly before the lonely planet deal