This will be my last blog post for the foreseeable future. From now on, all future posts on John Chow dot Com will be done by Michael Kwan and Mitchell Harper. They have done a great job at helping me fill this blog with content and I’m sure they will continue doing a great job. I hope you treat them as well as you treated me.
Going On A Permanent Vacation
Starting tomorrow, I will be on permanent vacation. I have sold my company, TTZ Media Inc., to a Toronto based Internet Venture Company. The sale closed yesterday. I cannot disclose the sale price but it is enough that the interest on the money alone would put me in the top 1% income bracket.
Sarah and I plan to spend the next year traveling the world. This is the final realization of a dream. Truth of the matter is, I never expected this day would come so soon. I remember the first time I received a multi-million dollar offer for TTZ. It was during the Dot Com boom days and I said no. Six months later, the Internet crashed. Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat them. I do not intend to repeat the same mistake by saying no this time around.
Good Bye For Now
I had a great time updating this blog and sharing my knowledge with you. I will log in from time to time to see how things are going and give an update on where I am in the world and what I’m eating for dinner.
Good by for now. Thank you for reading my miscellaneous ramblings.
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{ 192 comments }
Finally! You’ve been talking about this for days, but I haven’t been able to say anything! Glad to see everything worked out… Congrats!!!
Now you can come visit me in Hong Kong
…and me in Boston. Maybe you could do a tour, visiting all your fans during your travels!
Good luck to you and thanks for everything!
Personal Development for John Chow dot Com Readers
If he visited all his readers he would never stop travelling! (not to say I wouldn’t want you to visit me
)
John got us very well
good luck
Hasn’t John outsourced all the serious writing of this site to two Malaysian women since early November? I mean, we all know he’s not smart enough to come up with all these good ideas.
All John writes are the restaurant reviews.
That is all he seems to know about anyway is eating at fancy restaurants. It’s about time we are rid of him. I noticed that the Malaysian women have better and more believable content on the blog since Novemeber anyway.
So long Chump!
All of us “in the know” already realize this to be true, Nick
April fools! I fell for the Google thing for about a minute because I forgot that it was April 1st.
Haha, I did the same thing on my blog. Although the response on my blog wasn’t as popular as it was here
Wow John… I’m not really sure what to say…
Will you still be running The Tech Zone, or is that part of TTZ media also?
*scratches the most kickass CES party off my list for next year*
The TechZone is part of TTZ Media.
John, this is a good april fools prank. But if it’s not, I’d love to blog as well
Heheh.. it so is!
It is an april fool’s joke. HAHA, good one man.
If it was true, we must agree that john would do a big “hole” in the world. We can’t “live” without john’s posts
Good luck John
I’m sure the new owners will continue the party tradition
As long as they keep on posting pictures of Asian food, I’m happy.
Yea, who else can’t miss the good food? I will!
No one could match John’s food photography skills :p
Send all the readers my way.
Reader hog, Ed!
Dear John Chow readers,
Since JC is not going to blog anymore you might as well bring your evil butts over to my place. Just click my name
Regards,
Dark Side Blog
No way! They should obviously all come to my blog
I can’t believe you guys are taking advantage of the situation. So, I heard Derrich.com is pretty cool.
wow, nice! everybody SHOULD travel the world. thanks for the blog! i’ve learned a great deal from here. if you’ve ever traveled to prague, i will show you around…
Its every bloggers dream to do that, get rich of their blog then travel the world
I think it’s not just every blogger’s dream, I think it’s everyone’s dream to get rich.
.. something smells fishy .. april fools fishy..
I’m sure there will be a Food Review about April Fools Fish sometime soon.
WTF mate?
That’s what I thought! This is surely a joke, but if I’m not mistaken, he’s lost 200 people from his rss feed because of this!
John’s RSS feed fluctuates a lot, especially on weekends.
Nice April fools joke
I love april fools jokes. I can’t believe you guys are so lame to believe this. =P
Nice one John, almost got me.
Eh…I started writing a huge-ass farewell post to John. And I asked him about it on AIM, and he “went to sleep”.
John is so frikken evil. 
I realized it was a joke when I he claimed it had been sold :p
Happy April Fools’ Day
April Fool’s, right?
I HATE APRIL FOOL’S DAY JOKES!!!!
But I still love your blog, and I’m sure you’ll be back tomorrow.
By the by, you should’ve waiting to post this on April 1st!!!!!
I was going to hold it in, but it seems as if everyone has already ruined the April Fool’s fun
.
S
A case of timing. It is just after midnight. Should’ve waited a few hours.
I believed it for a sec…then was like wait a minute…..April fools. Then I read the comments to confirm lol.
Well done.
Man I really hope this is an April fools joke. You really had me for a second…
You had me for about 5 seconds!
But then I remembered I sent you the check to buy TTZ Media. It’s here. I think it was for $6.95 after a cashback coupon!
oh, yes… Happy April 1st.
WOW….April fool….but is it true?
If not…that’s fine…
If yes, Let me know you new blog….I must follow you….learn the great stuff you have…
Is Michael and Mitchell still going to be doing the blog reviews? I was just going to do a review so I could get a link back!
You can go ahead, it will still be up.
Don’t worry Gregg, it’s just a joke.
April Mop. he he, nice joke.
This is one of the semi-believeable April Fools i’ve seen so far
HAHA, I did a similar thing over at my blog
Nice one.
Now people have truly ‘spoiled’ the fun..
I wonder what’s Google up to this year, though.
Google Paper is their joke this year…
Google Paper? I haven’t seen it yet though. Have to do a search for it.
good luck and happy trails to you and sarah!!!!
I am currently in Orlando, FL and have been here for the last couple of days. I manage to sneak on a computer here and I read this post. I had a lot of mixed emotions. Some sad and almost hurt that you would not mention something before actually selling it. Then I thought what a great opportunity for Mitch and Michael, then I read the first few comments and thought…ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Dammit John, I hate April 1st!!!
Well, I’m hoping this is a prank because although I think Michael and Mitch do a great job at blogging, John Chow dot com, would not be the same with out John Chow himself!
When are you going to be back, commenting up a storm, Jane?
John is so evil. If this is an April Fools joke, it’s cruel. If not,
uh…happy trails. It’s been real, John. 
Congrats, John! We’ll miss your daily updates. What an awesome development for a great business. Enjoy your extended vacation.
Hehe, April Fools.. I wonder what the world has install for us today!
Oh hehehehe this BETTER not be an April Fool’s joke, man
LOL
April Fool, thank for fooling us around
John,
Man, right when I was hoping to become another internet pal of yours, you bail. I am so disappointed. I seriously was shocked until I decided to write a comment and I saw something about April Fools.
You tricky son of a gun. I love your style, so keep it up. That is just hilarious!
Thanks
Adam
You actually scared me for a minute. Then I read the comments. You are truly evil.
He didn’t fool me, well not for very long at least!
Kickass, I can finally catch up on all the posts I haven’t read yet
I don’t think anyone will leave their blogs.. that too a very popular and famous blog!
hahaha . . nice try . . you should turn off comments for this one though! hahahah . then we’ll really see the drama of bloggers running around with their heads cut off!
April fool’s is too predictable these days.
Still, could it be that John DID sell the company and the joke is to announce it on April 1st?
That would be the ultimate evil
John Chow is way too evil to be the one with a million bucks and content. Happy April 1st you all!
Oh.. so you’re not retiring?
Shucks……
Only if this is true, it will be the true April fool.
Sigh. I seem to have lost my humour, did anyone see it?
Hey John,
Congrats. It is normal that Internet companies are valued 200 times their earnings. And who the fools are we’ll find out tomorrow
nice joke John
April Fools
At least send us the pictures of the food you are going to eat round the world!
What if it’s true that he is going away for some time? We could be fooled thinking that it’s an April Fool joke :p
Happy April Fools’ Day
It’s true guys.. I was just talking to John on MSN. He got a NICE $ amount for TTZ. Now to figure out what my 10 posts a week will be about…
Wonder if I can just redirect all of the traffic to http://www.harpzon.com …
I think I read about the sale of your sites In fortune mag was the $5.5 million correct.
The post was posted prior to April 1st though!
Though at the moment as I write this its 12:42AM PST and according to RSS Bandit it received John’s post at 9:54:04 PM March 31st!
Well if it’s not an April Fool’s, good for you John for being able to do something a lot of people only dream of!
The post date is March 31st…
Have a nice long trip John~
Maybe someday we will meet somewhere around the world.
That’s a joke… This can’t be true. John!?
Anyway, if that’s true and if you will ever come to Italy I will be glad to show you Florence, Pisa and Livorno (and their restaurants)…
haha good one John. By the way, I have some shocking news involving you as well. Check it out at my blog if you will.
Was nice knowing you. NEXT!
That made me laugh.
I don’t know what to believe!!!
Is your avatar someone drop kicking an iMac?
You cant fool us John Chow we are readers of John Chow DOt Com. So Happy April FOol Day John Chow…
I have some arguments to support it. Here it goes this blog is was started as an experiment by John Chow, the experiment was that he was trying to find out how much he could earn from blogging. And now as this blog is running so well there isnt any reason he would stop it after having such phenomenal success in very less time.
I say he would want to break more records he wont stop here this is just the beginning….
So i am sure there will be a blog post saying april fool tomorrow. Nice try JC. Bu tbeing your reader even i am the root of all evil
April fools?
I cannot believe John giving up this blog. Where else would he be able to report about all his dining in fancy restaurants.
Anyway, in case you really sold out, best of luck and find a good place to invest in.
Hahaha you had me for a second John.
But then I read the comments… spoiled!
Sorry.
Majorly failed april fools-joke if it is one.
“My Last Blog Post
March 31st, 2007 by John Chow”
31st? gg.
You had me! You’re so evil.
Nice!
Heheheh…
nice try.
i believed for a sec.
Happy April Fools John! As soon as I saw the word “permanent” I knew it was a joke – nice try though.
lol..Happy April Fools Day!
Happy April Fools Day!
I believed when I read this good story in RSS, then I came here to say something and I found out you can’t fool us around.
Happy April Fools!
I found Google did the best in this April Fools
Hmmm what is this smell of fish?
Lol! JC will never leave a blog… hehehehe happy april fools JC!!! LOL
nice jowk!
Great Joke!
ah finally! we would have the root of all evil gone for good
lol jk, great post but since I fell for it on another blog, I expected another April Fool’s from the root of all evil 
You didn’t fool me a for second there
Yes it must be an April Fools joke, You could not leave all of this or could you?
But the article was posted on 31st March. Technically it isnt an April Fool’s joke…
Yes, but Shoemoney did his April Fool’s prank yesterday, trying to take everybody by surprise.
Let’s wait and see.
Hi John,
See you in Singapore tomorrow.
http://medotblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/presidential-suite-for-john-chow-at.html
Hehe, totally not fooled
Oh my gosh. Well I was definitely “totally fooled”! One part of me was absolutely elated for John and his family but the other side felt a tad sad for the blog. Anyway, if it isn’t true, I hope the day does come soon for you. You deserve it!
Nice April Fools.
I’m more than ready to fill the void created by your absence – I’ve already got a Top 10 Google ranking for “John Chow” and own http://www.johnchow.info
I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time!!
Kumiko
1st April 2007
You might get an offer from John to buy your .info domain..
I have been a regular reader of your blog though I rarely commented before. I think all of us agree your ‘miscellaneous ramblings’ have been of immense value to us apart from being just interesting reads.
And you realising your dream gives us all hope that we can do the same someday, with hard work and commitment.
I wish you luck and thank you for your time on this blog and your effort to show us lesser mortals a guiding light in the dot com world.
You can’t fool me. Yeah though Shoemoney did. Just visit his site.
happy april fooooool
Doh! I almost fell for it. Then I looked at the calendar. Nice one.
Sheesh, this post certainly caused a large stir!
April fools??
FT
yes!!
Happy April fools everyone
First April Joke…..
LOL, I hate april fools day. It brings out the EVIL in people!
I think I’m going to stay in bed all day and wait til tommorrow so i can actually believe what people are saying.
Everyone is telling porkies today – the thing is SOME of it must be true.
John cant leave his blog. Even if you travelled round the world you’d have your laptop with you. You could have billions and you’d still have a blog – atleast i think so.
trying to pull a fast one? Happy Arpil Fool’s day, John.
erm if this isn’t April fools I guess that you won’t be participating in the John Chow ‘Evil’ contest?
http://nick.techboggle.com/contest-1-photoshop-it-evil-john-chow-10-prize
Wow, I got punked hard on this one. I read it, was really surprised, sat back and pondered. I came to the realisation that this was the perfect end to this blog, John achieving complete financial independence which is what we are all ultimately after. Having your money working for you and not needing to work is the ultimate dream for many.
Awesome April fool’s John. You completely had me until I started reading the comments.
Nice one JOHN!
Enjoy traveling the world! 
Has got to be an April fool – Johns too vain to give all this up
but then again why lot – i gave up everything to travel the world – wasnt quite as much money as that though!
happy april fools.
Make Money Online With A Free Blog
I believed it when it was the 2nd of April..
Good joke though
Yea, there wouldn’t be anymore posts for today though..
I’m beginning to think this is for real. Checked the blog 1 year ago, no jokes at all, just a regular post.
If it is, enjoy your permanent vacation, John!
too bad this is april fool. otherwise I would have believed it.
Ha! April fools
Too bad it’s April. Anyway, don’t even consider doing it as I’d seriously leave your blog, JohnChow is nothing without John.
You know what? JC should have disabled the comments section for this to make it more realistic. Aww.. The spoilers in front!
By the way, does anyone think that this is the April Fool’s joke by Google? Just saw this on their site today.
“New! Get FREE breakthrough broadband with Google TiSP (BETA).”
I’d like to know who DOESN’T think it’s a joke by Google??
Kumiko
heh, someone who doesn’t think it a joke by Google is a newcomer around the block. Google’s been known to have April Fools jokes forever.
What are you talking about? So, it’s fake? And what about Gmail Paper?
Crazy American billionaire kids
I heard someone mention Google Paper above though. More than one joke by Google?
How many post are people going to write, to say good-bye to you before they realize what you have done LMAO.
I don’t buy it for a second!
Yeah I was a tad upset to read the title of this post and was not even thinking it was April fools. LOL Well John please swing by South Florida during your travels.
Nice April fools prank…
You know that April Fool jokes are only valid on April 1st up to Noon correct?
Since this post was posted on March 31 it doesn’t count as an April Fools! mauahahaha
He had to do it before though, to make it more believable.
You had me for a second John. Very well done. For a second there, I thought you had achieved what I am trying to achieve myself.
Well played.
Corey
You had me…then I went, hey! April fools…so now I’ll have to wait until tomorrow- just to make sure. Hope it’s true for you…would be an awesome thing.
I suspect it’s a joke like the others
Nice April fool joke John…
By the way who will be drawing the names for the flippingrich T-shirt draw on monday? 
I hope this is a cruel April Fools Day joke because I need my daily John Chow fix with my morning cup of coffee.
I agree!
Great news, Did you hear Yahoo just bought my blog for $12,000,000
Thanks for all your post John. I found you recently.
Good look!
And to think I started to panic. Good one John!
Mmm, you can do it better. It wasn’t evil enough John
Hee hee, good one.
I wonder how many people got really nervous for a second.
How many people do you think are still a bit nervous? One things for sure… people are blogging about John and his last blog post. More linklove for the evil John Chow.
I am 100% confident that John is not going to leave this site.
Happy April’s Fool Day, everyone
Happy April everyone!
Muahaha.
Yeah right John, and I’m Santa Claus and my wife is the tooth fairy.
Haha, that would have been truly evil, if you turned off the comments.
If he turned comments off we would get so desperate we would end up commenting in the Batch 49 post…
The most evil thing about this joke is the buzz and the BACKLINKS it just created… Look at all those pingbacks and thats just a fraction of the links he just got!
Ummm, I’m also selling my company for a few million… feel free to link to my site too…
I know one guy who must be totally stoked to know that you took time off your lifelong vacation to leave a comment about an evil John Chow contest on his blog this morning!!
It is a great news! My congratulation to you and your wife and the family. Wish you all would have a great tour around the world. People here miss your posts. Anyway, I shall be continuing visit your rambling blog here and look forward to seeing your posts some day. All the best !
congrats to you John.
if it’s a joke, good one. John and no web,
doesnt seem real.
I guess we will find out for sure tomorrow. But then again if I sold a website for millions I would travel too. But I think I would still blog about it. So I am putting money on its an April Fools joke, and a very good one at that.
By now this post as had 10263 views…nice trick evil John!
How many links and free reviews have you got today?
Evil John!
Nice April Fools joke.
Happy April Fools Day.
I enjoyed this day today.
First Gmail Paper,
Than Google Blog Writer
Then SM ‘s Fools Day Joke
Now yours.
Going to visit few more site to see what they have done …:):):)
I call “bullshit!”
I woke up this morning with the aim of believing nothing i read…looks like i needed that aim
Nice joke indeed.
If the sale were really on the level, John or one of his successors probably would have responded since there are so many commentors calling b.s. So I’m going to have to join the nay sayers. Great idea, though!
… I just subscribed! ! !
Well, I hope you enjoy traveling around the world, make sure you stop by the azores in portugal…
wait a minute… April Fools, uh?
hehe, nice one
But… hmm… the post date says March 31st and not April 1st. Could this be for real? Nah…
April 1 has passed away. Now back to work……
Well John, we gonna miss you. Don´t forget your photos about your breakfast.
If you are thinking where to go, think about central america.
i have visited ur site quite often but thisis my first comment . i couldn’t stop commenting on ur last post.. congrats and best of luck to u for ur world tour… i think u r from china then on the way i invite u to visite my country NEPAL its between INDIA and CHINA . u may want to see tallest mountain in the world there ( mt everest) wishing u good luck again
Someone got fooled, post deleted
April Fools swept the blogosphere!