Not renew the contract - sure. But canceling an already scheduled event because of low revenue per guest doesn't seem very likely to me?
Or maybe it was some sort of ongoing agreement and canceling it was effectively "not renewing".
Not to be TOO snarky, but given how quickly corporate cancels employee labor despite rising revenue, it would not surprise me for other corporate to also cancel "low paying customers" for "high paying customers". Loyalty is beyond dead so cancelling a contract is just a cost of business if they feel the alternative gives more money.
At least going by all the entrepreneurship articles I've read over the decade, "firing your customers" is a term of art, and a recommended approach for dealing with unprofitable and/or annoying customers - so I guess this shouldn't be surprising.
> Loyalty is beyond dead so cancelling a contract is just a cost of business if they feel the alternative gives more money.
Not to be TOO snarky, but that's kind of the point of contracts - contract cancellation terms aren't an "or else..." threat, but rather an agreed upon exit strategy. Termination fines aren't punishment, they're compensation for inconvenience.
Repeating this verbatim in your reply means you are trying to be pretty snarky, fyi.
The idea is to diffuse siutations like this before it comes about, but I guess nothing is perfect.
If they canceled a year or so before the con, I could see that. But to cancel seven month before the conference? There's no way they will get a decent-sized substitute in the space before then, so I don't see how this would be anything but a money-loser. Not to mention other conferences might be less willing to commit to long-term deals if they see that the contract can be canceled on a whim.
The announcement effectively calls it "no-notice cancellation" and overall it reads like they were already deep in the planning phase when it happened, which seems unlikely if a renewal was pending.
In all likelihood they ran the math and figured it was worth it to yank the rug out from under Defcon, penalties be damned.