Luxury Pilot Communities

Craig Fuller shares how he's building a luxury aviation-focused real estate and media empire by acquiring niche magazines and leveraging their audiences to create additional revenue streams.

Core Strategy

• Buy undervalued magazines (3-5x EBITDA) with loyal, wealthy audiences
• Improve magazine operations and raise prices to profitable levels
• Use magazine audience to sell high-value products and services
• Focus on enthusiast categories where audiences spend significant money

Magazine Acquisition Example (Flying Magazine):

• Purchase price: $3.5M ($2.5M upfront, $1M deferred)
• Initial metrics:
  • Revenue: $2.5M/year
  • EBITDA: $500k/year
  • Subscribers: 108k
• Post-acquisition changes:
  • Raised subscription prices significantly
  • Improved paper quality and content
  • Expanded editorial team from 3 to 30 people
  • Revenue grew to $7M in first year

Aviation Real Estate Development:

• Purchased 1,500 acres for $3.6M
• Building luxury fly-in community with:
  • Private runway
  • Home sites connected to runway
  • Homes valued $2-3M each
• Secured $15M in reservation deposits
• Inspired by high-end resorts like Blackberry Farm

Current Business Performance:

• 54 magazine titles acquired
• $60M annual revenue run rate
• 20% profit margins ($12M profit)
• Estimated value: $120-180M (10-12x earnings)
• Goal: $1B revenue by 2030

The model works because these niche enthusiast audiences:

• Have significant spending power
• Strong emotional connection to content
• Natural buyers of related products/services
• Historically underserved by previous magazine owners