There is a shakedown happening at Miss Universe. New National Directors are starting to get introduced. For starters, there is a changing of guards in Indonesia and Malaysia. And getting the country franchise has now become a bidding effort. Read the screenshot below (courtesy of mvlanuevaera) to get an idea. One of the biggest question a potential bidder needs to answer is: “How much business can you bring to the organization?”
I would not be surprised if a new ND comes out of Vietnam and some Latin American countries. Let’s see what happens next.
normannorman.com 
Though this is strictly a business decision, there are good business decisions and bad business decisions , and this is really a bad business decision for a new owner to take.
I will not be surprised if in the next MU edition, there will only be less than 50 delegates.
CHEAP. Next!
it is business as usual for Anne. What is positive about this new development is her willingness to help the franchisee generate revenue. I will just have to wait and see. I am still looking forward to spectacular pageant finals, grander than the last and previous editions.
Philippines will never win another MU as long as she is the owner
Philippines will (ever) win another MU as long as Bella Y is sent as rep… naku nahiya ka pa sabihin!
I’m currently residing in a country where there is massive (& expensive) and continuing effort to save an endangred bird from extinction. But it may be hopeless because the (stupid) bird hasn’t really evolved naturally. There is only so much human intervention before nature takes its inevitable course.
And pageantry is like this. It’s actually small, and it’s been dying for years. What IMG hasn’t been upfront about, JKN Global Group has pushed publicly right front and center- it’s a business above all else, and if it can’t find profitability, well…
Whether this ploy is meant to weed out undesirable, toxic and lazy ND’s doesn’t really make a difference; a moneyed new franchise holder can also end up being undesirable, toxic and lazy.
What’s concerning is that when the focus is put back onto the business side of things, credibility and integrity suffer. It actually already did in the inaugural edition and expect more accusations that the pageant was uhm, cooked.
Beauty is a bad business model, unless you’re dealing with cosmetics, clothes, cosmetic enhancements and brothels/strip clubs; how would you really get an ROI from a face, a person who goes around for less than 12 months doing charity work?? How do you make a quantification in terms of $$$ generated while still maintaining and spending for a certain standard?
I miss the IMG days because this wasn’t the pageant fan’s problem. IMG’s one and only job was to put out a show that celebrated a different, more purposeful beauty than the one before it (Trump’s) and they did it well. It financially suffered, but they didn’t let that affect the show or the selection of winners. But of course it’s wishful thinking to believe that it would have continued the way it did, because that would have been a fantasy.
Still, I’m more inclined to hold onto that, rather than swallow the bitter and highly suspect reality of the Universe according to Ann Jakkapong.
as long as she keeps transwomen away as contestants, that’s fine by me.
This is all a publicity stunt IMHO.
I suspect JKN wants to clean house with a few pesky NDs and this is a cover for that. MUP is safe, for now, provided it can keep paying its franchise fees (so they need to start producing winners again… sponor’s aren’t going to shell out for Tuff 20, much less clappers).
My guess is Mexico is also on the short list. Lupita Jones has been very vocal with her opposition to transgender contestants ever since Jenna Talackova. And from Mexican friends and fans, she’s a raging B lol.
Bidding war – encourages competition, puts current licensees in check.
Bidding war – at the end of the day, MU is still a business and the new CEO needs to find ways to monetize MU. She is a billionaire for a reason.
However, let me caution her, there could be backlash in terms of loyalty and overreach. I think she should make sure that she keeps the good ones instead of getting rid of them just for the sake of money.
Well, I think it’s great that Anne JKN is taking on a more hands-on, active approach in managing the pageant.
The way I look at it, Miss Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip is working hard to save the declining image and uncertain direction of Miss Universe Org. Honestly, I don’t see any sparkling future of MUO. We have to admit, the businesses that supporting beauty pageant organizations are still trying to survive due to ailing econony brought by the pandemic. I guess the end of MUO is going to be happen soon.
@Gabriela, I don’t blame you for your cynicism, but I have a more optimistic view of pageantry ‘s future if captains of the industry join hands to save the industry from total collapse. At the end of the day, it is business acumen that will arrest its downward slide and turn it around to upward trajectory. I see this new franchise system, for instance, as a mutually beneficial growth partnership between MUO and the NDs. There is now a clearer symbiotic relationship between the franchisor and the franchisee, something unprecedented in an industry where the relationship seems to be a constrictive we-stage-pageant-you-send-rep routine. This synergistic relationship can propel both the franchisor and the franchisee towards greater heights. If this can become the industry benchmark, I see a bright future for the pageantry that we Filipinos love.
So, it really means strictly business folks, as the Philippine cliche goes,”walang personalan, negosyo lang”. And the bid amount is in accordance with the business’ “deemed… market value in your region”. The license fees are supposed to help MUO develop its support systems to franchisees “aimed at helping [them] generate additional revenues”. Fair enough. At least, now we are seeing an unprecedented development in the pageantry industry– the franchisor taking responsibility for the business viability of its franchisees. But isn’t this the global best practice in the franchising business? It’s high time this industry aligns with the systems and procedures in the worldwide business mainstream. It’s bad enough that the industry is mired in an antiquated concept of beauty, worse if the business systems and structures continue to be medieval.
So this now opens the playing field to anyone who thinks the global franchise under the new leadership will yield an ROI worth their “highest possible” bid. The catch is: the submission date– Feb 11 or three days from now– is too close for accomplishing the required supporting documents of 2023 Budget, Marketing Plan, and Vision for the Partnership. That already rules out participation in the bidding process of other parties besides the incumbent franchisee. But who knows? I’ve worked with some big companies who are able to beat the tightest of deadlines and still come up with very competitive professionally-written bid. Wishful thinking it may be, provided the computed ROI exceeds expectations and the business is deemed value- adding to their portfolio, I’m not ruling out the big-name business conglomerates to join the bidding fray.
What will happen to those small countries with small franchise budgets but want to participate in the Miss Universe competition ? …. Would be very beneficial to encourage more participation from more countries … more franchise country orgs , also means more business revenues going up the tube to Kun Ann
If Miss World can attract 100+ countries , why can’t Kun Ann .,,,, I hope so
Mas lalong lumabo na maibalik sa BPCI ang Ms. U franchise, malamang stay pa rin yan sa Empire . Nalugi nga si Chavit nung 2016 and up to now hindi man lang umaabot sa break even level ang investment nya to think na kakapanalo lang ni Pia that time, ngayon pa pinag clap ang Pinas? Si Belo na lang ang pwede makasulot nyan, if willing din siyang malugi at kaya nyang magtraydor sa sa mga friends nya sa The Empire.
Singson po may-ari ng MUP. Di mo pa rin ba alam? Saan ka galing?