Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland previously announced his intentions to sell the controversial intellectual property. After being unable to find a buyer, he posted it on eBay. The move attracted some bidders, and on July 15, the auction officially closed. The winner of Fyre Fest will pay $245,300 to McFarland for the IP.
McFarland streamed the closing moments of the auction, and he appeared visibly disappointed by the final bids. "Damn, this sucks. It's so low," he said after the bidding crossed $240,000. Shortly after, he published a press release that seemed less pessimistic than his original response.
“I would like to congratulate the winning bidder in the FYRE Festival IP auction on eBay. I look forward to working with them to begin the process to finalize the sale. FYRE Festival is just one chapter of my story, and l’m excited to move onto my next one," reads part of Billy McFarland's statement, which he published to Instagram shortly after the auction closed.
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Billy McFarland Sold Fyre Festival
Of course, fans will remember the first Fyre Festival for all the wrong reasons. In 2017, Billy McFarland (with help from Ja Rule) attempted to host a Coachella-like music festival in The Bahamas. It was a disaster, with poor accommodations for attendees and the 33 advertised artists pulling out due to poor planning. McFarland and his associates were investigated for several forms of fraud, leading to the attempted festival organizer serving four years in prison.
Shortly after his release from prison in 2022, McFarland announced plans for a Fyre Festival 2. Those did not come to fruition, and instead, he chose to sell off the entire brand. Maybe the next owner, whose name is not yet publicly known, will host a festival of his own with it.