THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED: More recent version here.
Ed. note: This is a guest post by one of our commenters, who goes by ABalancedPerspective, on the estimated cash out by the BRC LLC members.
This is a guest post, it is not penned by burnersxxx, whose blog this is upon. As the cartoons are penned by Christopher, not burnersxxx, this is confusing to many. Much obliged, burnersxxx, for permitting me to pen a guest post. I am solely a typical burner whom has attempted to contribute towards the throwing of the awesome crowd sourced party upon the playa, many thousands of awesome Burners have contributed far more than I.
There is so much awesomeness, the Burning Man event, Burner culture, contributing Burners, 10:00 and 2:00 sectors, Esplanade camps, artists, temple builders, DPW, BRC Rangers, Gate, Pyro Team, Rampart, fire spinners, mutant vehicle owners, thousands of volunteers, Participants, and most who have laboured for the Burning Man organization, almost all, so many awesome Burners! But, I believe in fair play, and I am of the belief that the facts of the seven annum cash out, of 2010 to 2016, of the six former owners of Burning Man, should be reported upon, in a properly documented manner, towards the purpose of Burners gaining a better comprehension of the huge cash out, towards the making of their own decisions and negotiations with the organization.
Summary
A summary of the, by appearances, by simple maths, capitalistic cash out of 2010 to 2016, of the six former BRC LLC owners follows, with $28 million to $45 million of cash directed towards minting them, mostly free of taxation levies. Upon averages, each of the six former BRC LLC owners will pocket as much cash as was commissioned by them for all the art, including the temples, within the entire history of Burning Man, which is less than $6 million, by the afterburn reports. By these maths, the cash directed towards the pockets of the six is nearly $100 for each ticket sold from 2010 to 2016. Not a shabby capitalistic pocketing for a crowd sourced party that awesome Burners have thrown for two decades upon our gifted sound camps, theme camps, mutant vehicles, art projects, and the labours of many thousands of Burner volunteers. IF ANYONE, PERCHANCE, MIGHT PROVE ANY OF THIS TO BE INCORRECT, PLEASE DO SO, I WOULD BE VERY MUCH OBLIGED, TOWARDS OBTAINING BETTER MATHS UPON THEIR SEVEN ANNUM CASH OUT.
As Larry Harvey stated upon the Charlie Rose show, ‘We never said we weren’t capitalists’. This summary of their huge cash out is upon their statements and upon simple maths upon their afterburn reports, the SFBG newspaper reporting by Scribe, the articles Decommodification, Inc and Clarification of Decommodification by burnersxxx about Decommodification, LLC, the statements of Larry Harvey, and upon Corporate Wiki.
Black Rock City LLC, a Corporation, Doing Business As Burning Man, and the 501(c)3 Burning Man Project
Black Rock City (BRC) LLC formed within 1999 with Larry Harvey, Marian Goodell, William Roger Peterson, Crimson Rose Elliot Peterson, Michael Danger Ranger Mikel, and Harley Dubois as owners. At 2013 end, they donated the BRC LLC to the 501(c)3 non-profit Burning Man Project, with the BRC LLC, at present, a subsidiary corporation of the Project. The six are, at present, also upon the Burning Man Project Board of Directors. In addendum, Marian is CEO or President of the Burning Man Project, Larry is Executive Director of the Burning Man Project, William Roger Peterson is the Project’s Director of Nevada Relations and Special Projects, and Harley Dubois is the Project’s Transition Manager.
Details of their 2010 – 2016, $28 Million to $45 Million Cash Out
2010: over $4 million of salary, payroll was raised from $2.8 million of 2009 towards $7.2 million of 2010, with solely 30 salary employees and the six BRC LLC owners to pay as the Senior Staff. Temporary events contract labourers, such as DPW crew and administrative, gained solely $231,783 and consultants, such as legal and accounting, gained solely $1,468,000, ledgered upon separate lines. Thusly, unless the salaried labourers gained, upon averages, over $100,000 each, the six LLC owners gained over $4 million of payroll.
2011: over $4 million of salary from $7.1 million of payroll
2012: over $4 million of salary from $7.8 million of payroll
2013: over $4 million of salary, or the cash was paid towards the six LLC owners upon the BRC LLC donation to the Project
2013 end: the six donated their BRC LLC to the 501(c)3 non-profit Burning Man Project, though firstly the BRC LLC was stripped of cash towards their pockets, property towards their Black Rock City Properties LLC or their Gerlach Holdings LLC with verification needed upon this, and the Burning Man(TM) name, )*( logo, and other trademarks stripped towards their owned Decommodification LLC. The amount of cash might not have been large, perchance $5 million or so forth, we have not been informed upon this amount, nor will we be informed upon this amount, despite Larry stating to the contrary. We will solely learn of the cash remaining upon the ledger upon the donation.
They obtained brilliant advice upon this donation, they are already pocketing most of the cash profits from seven annums of the Burning Man(TM) event, so how might they, perchance, gain of even more? Their donation of the BRC LLC towards the 501(c)3 Project results upon most of their cash out being free from taxation levies in due of the future profits of the BRC LLC from the Burning Man(TM) event. In addendum, the donation permits them to mandate how this donation is to be utilized by the Project.
2014 and 2015 and 2016: payments are to occur, for the utilization of the trademarks, from the regionals and the Burning Man event, towards the Decommodification LLC owned by the six of them. Marian has stated the amounts were to be determined by the Project. We will be informed upon this amount nine months after the annual taxation filings of the Project, and upon the afterburn reports of the regionals parties, should these reports not be hidden from Burners. Cash will be banked, by the Project, from 2014 and 2015 towards the huge payoff in 2016 for the purchase the Burning Man(TM) trademark and logos. In addendum, five of the six are the recipients of reasonable salaries from the Burning Man Project, perchance, $100,000 to $400,000 each annum. TBD is whether the six, through Black Rock City Properties LLC or Gerlach Holdings LLC, are leasing properties in Gerlach to the Project.
2016 end: the Burning Man Project is to purchase Decommodification LLC, owned by the six, containing the Burning Man(TM) name, )*( logos, and additional trademarks, such as Decompression(TM) and Decommodification(TM), that’s when they will be paid for their value. One may reasonably assume the payment for their Decommodification LLC, or of the trademarks owned by their Decommodification LLC, is not less than three times their prior over $4 million annual salary, thusly over $12 million for the three annums of 2014 to 2016. Indications are the price for the Burning Man(TM) name was priorly agreed upon within 2011, prior to the doubling of Burning Man(TM) event revenues from $13 million to $25 million, so the price, perchance, might not be more than $20 million.
The Burning Man Project should be disclosing this material amount to maintain 501(c)3 charitable public benefit organization status towards future donations, of cash and of labour, especially upon consideration the decisions of the six have benefit towards them of whether the cash to purchase the trademarks will be available for them to pocket within 2016, and the Project board being composed of the six, whom are permanent members, and eleven others appointed for solely one year at a time, thusly limiting their power to disagree A summary upon 501(c)3 California law, commentary by knowledgeable people is desired, please disclose if you have signed any agreement to be a representative of Burning Man or part of their social media crew.
Thusly, by simple maths, $28 million to $45 million, over the annums of 2010 to 2016, is directed towards the pockets of Larry, Marian, and the other four former BRC LLC corporation owners.
The Future
Larry has talked about possessing a 100 year plan, but, the Burner community was not involved in the creation of Larry’s plan, despite promises to the contrary. Upon the donation of the BRC LLC towards the 501(c)3 Project, the six, perchance, might have mandated the utilization of the donation, which the Project is obliged, by law, to obey. Is this Larry’s 100 year plan? All we are of the knowledge is, despite statements to the contrary, and despite the six no longer owning the Burning Man business, they remain in firm control of Burning Man, and the awesome Burner community has minimal voice.
The event has changed from one of the counter culture, towards one of middle class conformity, with an embrace of rules, and many attendees being of the belief of the police agencies being upon the playa for our safety. The tickets are sold, each annum, to 40 per cent newbies, in the place of now-former Burners, with three of four attendees venturing two or fewer prior times to the playa, and, with solely one of eight attendees venturing more than four prior times to the playa. Most attendees of the event are unaware of ‘There are no Spectators, only Participants’, establishing the culture, and, are unaware of, in the place of Burning Man paying significant funds towards the awesome sound camps, mutant vehicles, and other awesome attractions, as is done by most festivals, Burning Man has a lead wallet, charging them listed price for their tickets and vehicle levies, except for a small number. This is to continue in the future.
For those, whether a true believer or representatives of the organization, wishing to parrot the PR talking points of the six former BRC LLC owners upon becoming minted by their pocketing of their substantial energetic return, here is a link.
Once again, IF ANYONE, PERCHANCE, MIGHT PROVE ANY OF THIS TO BE INCORRECT, PLEASE DO SO, I WOULD BE VERY MUCH OBLIGED, TOWARDS OBTAINING BETTER MATHS UPON THEIR SEVEN ANNUM, $28 MILLION to $45 MILLION, CASH OUT.
‘ABalancedPerspective’
data from Black Rock City Census
