Google, the tech giant and world’s most popular search engine, has acquired the majority share of Burning Man festival.
Initial reports from the website Burners Feel The Burn said the company made a bid late last night to take over the festival and have been successful in its acquisition.
Google now owns 51.2 per cent of the festival, meaning it now has the controlling share and will be taking over logistics and the annual running of the event.
The undisclosed figure Google is reported to have paid is thought to be upwards of $1.2 billion and the website described it as a “real burning point” for the brand.
It’s no secret that Google has had a presence at the festival for years and it was also reported that its founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page have been attending since its inception and even hired the former CEO back in 2001 based on how he managed at the week-long pilgrimage.
Two years ago we found out that employees of the powerhouse even shipped in lobsters to Black Rock City fresh from Maine and now it seems that they’ll be shipping in a lot more than that.
We managed to speak to Marcus Fooly, Google’s Chief of Fun and Games division, who told us some of the things that the business has planned for the festival.
“We don’t want to change too much about the event, we just want to compliment the essence of the Burn. We’ll be adding our trademark Google Os as eyes for the Burning Man effigy and also renaming Robot Heart to Roobot Heart, but as you can tell, it’s only minor changes to the aesthetic.”
When asked what they’d be actually "offering and giving" to the festival, something that forms the backbone of Burning Man, Fooly said that there would be “An on-site search engine where people can request amenities like food, water and glitter.”
The move to acquire the majority share of Burning Man comes at an odd time, as Burning Man said in a recent statement that they’d be aiming to cut down the amount of influencers on site and would try to remove ‘luxury camp’ packages.
No doubt people will be up in arms about the recent news, but for more information, head over to the Google website and search Burning Man.
Roman Gügel is Mixmag's Digital Synergy Correspondent