Company That Bought Publishers Clearing House Won't Pay Past Prize Winners
Key topics
A company that acquired Publishers Clearing House (PCH) is refusing to pay past prize winners, sparking outrage and concerns about consumer protection, with commenters discussing the ethics of the company's actions and potential consequences.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Active discussionFirst comment
1h
Peak period
11
0-6h
Avg / period
2.9
Based on 20 loaded comments
Key moments
- 01Story posted
Sep 28, 2025 at 6:34 PM EDT
3 months ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
Sep 28, 2025 at 7:35 PM EDT
1h after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
11 comments in 0-6h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Oct 2, 2025 at 1:01 PM EDT
3 months ago
Step 04
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
Want the full context?
Jump to the original sources
Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.
> Mr. Wyllie had been receiving an annual check for $260,000 every January, money that allowed him to retire and buy a home on six acres. But this year, the checks stopped. A few months later, he learned why: Publishers Clearing House had filed for bankruptcy protection without warning.
> Mr. Wyllie, who had not worked in more than a decade, said he had recently found a part-time job, but added, “I won’t make enough money to even pay the mortgage.”
Wow this guy has been getting $260k every year and still hasn't paid off his mortgage. I guess the spending habits of some people expands when they get more money.
Depending on your mortgage rate and how long you've held it, paying it off might be a really terrible financial decision.
The median home price in SF is $1.3. Using the calculator at zillow (https://www.zillow.com/homeloans/buyability/) with an income of $260k, looking to buy a $1.3MM house, you'd need a down payment of over $300k.
So suppose you get your $260k payout and want to live in SF... you have to rent for what... 5 or 10 years to save up the $300k down payment (while living modestly to save tens of thousands per year). Then finally you can buy your average home, watch half your income disappear to taxes and another third to mortgage, and then you'll still have enough to live a comfortable, middle-class life.
You're not buying yachts, getting meetings with senators or buying your kids into elite schools. You're not flying private, hiring personal assistants or buying a vacation home in Aspen. You're not making dozens of angel investments or being courted as a limited partner by VCs or PE funds.
"Upper class" probably starts at around $10-15 million in liquid assets, to be able to really have the freedom, flexibility and power to live a life that's distinct from middle class existence. If you can't give your son a "small loan of $1 million" to start his business (and be able to shrug off a complete loss as a learning experience) then you're not upper class.
By the way, the solution to your “I want to buy a house in SF” problem isn’t to move to SF and pay an insane amount of rent for 5-10 years, it’s to keep living like you did and doing your normal job that you were doing before you won 260k/yr for 2 years while you save.
I won’t even bother digging into how warped your view of what it means to be upper class is, I’ll just say stay on that hamster wheel and keep chasing that dream dude.
If you ever win a large sum of money and are given the option to take less now or more over time, take less now.
Agreed, feels like the company should have been and should be now required to purchase an annuity or other similar product that protects the winners.
I wonder what happened in 2003. Probably the company’s fortunes were already faltering.
Also the business was probably becoming obsolete at that point. The internet brought easier access to magazine content, magazine subscriptions signups, and sweepstakes. I remember there being a pretty big sweepstakes forum community at that point.
It also seems like the most lucrative customers may have been using the sweepstakes as a form of gambling, and gambling options have just steadily expanded for decades.