My assumption is that the project was not abandoned, but rather sold to someone who is not capable of running it. If everything was really on autopilot, I think everything would collapse very quickly and it wouldn't last this long. It seems logical to me that the owner decided to get out of the business after about 10 years, but it turned out the way it did.
If that is the case then I hope the buyer would introduce themselves here, tell us about their vision for the next 10years and how they plan to resolve any ongoing issues.
~snip~If there was any intention for the possible new owner to do that, it would have already happened. If I am right with my assumption, then the whole essence of the secret sale was that everyone thinks that nothing has really changed - in other words, if someone bought the business, they wanted to buy the reputation as well.
Be that as it may, I think it is unrealistic to expect that this service will exist in 10 years - let alone that someone has plans that go that far in advance.