GRAND LOSS AUTO FOR JEZZA AND CO
But he’s set for £750k tax back
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PHIL Collins appears frail as he is seen in a wheelchair the day before suffering a fall on stage.
The In The Air Tonight singer, 68, was given a push ahead of a gig in Charlotte, North Carolina. ★
Next day he fell back off his chair, left, while watching son Nicolas, 18, do a drum solo. His tour is set to go ahead despite his debilitating back pain. JEREMY Clarkson and his Grand Tour pals have lost fortunes on their petrolhead website – but hope the taxman can give it a jumpstart.
Jezza, Richard Hammond and James May ploughed millions into their social media network DriveTribe.
Clarkson, 59, described the online platform “YouPorn for cars”.
However it has struggled since its launch three years ago and has lost nearly £18million, including more than £5m last year.
Now the Amazon Prime
Grand Tour trio are banking on funding boosts from the taxman to help turn the figures around.
Bosses hope they will receive £750,000 in development and research tax credit by the end of the year followed by another
£500,000 next July.
Jonathan Morris, chief executive of DriveTribe, said the losses did not tell the whole story.
He told the Daily Star:
“As you will know with any start-up there is a ‘building’ period where the company spends investment to create a brand, product and technology.
Growth
“Then a ‘growth’ period where we focus on becoming a market leader and turning a profit. We are now in that growth period.
“Our plan is to be profitable towards the end of next year.”
That will come as a relief to former BBC Top Gear trio Jezza, Hammond, 49, and May, 56.
They have pumped fortunes into the project through their main company W Chump & Sons.
The website has also been backed by 21st Century Fox.
But DriveTribe said it as will need further funding over the next three years before it becomes “cash generative”.
When the website was launched Hammond said: “Gamers have got Twitch, travellers have got TripAdvisor and fashion fans have got, oh, something or other too.
“But people who are into cars have got nowhere.
“There’s no grand-scale online motoring community where people can meet and share video, comments, information and opinion.
“DriveTribe will change that. And then some.”
But some driving experts were quickly turned off.
Negative comments included the website “burying everyone in a blizzard of Clarkson, Hammond, and May”.