The End Of PlanetOut

Nine months after selling them Out and Advocate magazines, PlanetOut has been acquired by Regent Media. Regent's purchase of Gay.com and the other remaining PlanetOut assets completes the years-long death spiral of the once-great LGBT media company. It appears that all the former PlanetOut properties will continue to operate under the new combined company.

Regent Entertainment Media, publishers of The Advocate and Out magazines and owner of the here! TV network announced Thursday that it has signed a merger agreement with PlanetOut Inc. The combined company will be known as Here Media Inc, 80% of which will be owned by the owners of Regent Entertainment Media. In addition to here!, The Advocate, and Out, Regent Entertainment Media also publishes HIVPlus and Alyson Books. Its online presence includes Advocate.com, Out.com, HIVPlusMag.com, OutTraveler.com, GayWired.com, and SheWired.com. PlanetOut runs two of the longest-established gay sites on the Web, PlanetOut.com and Gay.com.

“This business combination will unite a powerful broadband video solution with an iconic brand and a leading URL in the LGBT community,” said Paul Colichman, CEO of Regent Entertainment Media. “We are extremely excited about the opportunity to leverage this exceptional collection of assets to expand our audience, grow our revenues, and increase stockholder value.”

Shares of PlanetOut are trading at $0.73 today, down from a 52-week high of $6.28.

PlanetOut Gets NASDAQ Warning

NASDAQ has issued a warning to PlanetOut that the company has not maintained the required $5M minimum value of publicly held shares and may be delisted from the exchange. The company has until October 30th to up its value. Earlier this year PlanetOut sold their magazine division (Out, Advocate) to Regent Releasing, the owners of gay cable network Here! TV. It is thought that the greatest asset remaining at PlanetOut is its ownership of the domain Gay.com.

Out & Advocate Sold To Here Networks

PlanetOut has announced the sale of Out and Advocate magazines to New York-based gay cable channel Here Networks for $6M cash, payable in monthly installments beginning this month. PlanetOut will retain Gay.com and PlanetOut.com, a mere fraction of its formerly sprawling holdings which included adult magazine publisher Spec Pubs and gay cruise company RSVP. Last month PlanetOut put Expedia in charge of booking travel on its websites.

PlanetOut reported a loss of $51.7M in 2007, with an accumulated deficit of over $89M. The company reported having 237 employees at the end of last year. Let's hope Here Networks has better luck running the magazine side.

More Bad News From PlanetOut

PlanetOut has released their 2007 figures and the news is pretty bad:.

Gay and lesbian focused web media company PlanetOut Inc. reported a loss of $51.2 million for 2007. In 2006, the San Francisco company (NASDAQ: LGBT) lost $3.7 million. Sales fell to $53 million for 2007, down slightly from 2006 sales of $58.8 million.

PlanetOut, which owns Gay.com, Advocate.com, Out.com and other web sites, as well as a book publisher, Alyson Publications, recorded a $25.9 million charge for impairment of goodwill and intangible assets in 2007, which contributed to its loss.

In January, PlanetOut hired Allen & Co. to help it with its strategy, including a possible sale of the company. PlanetOut agreed to pay Allen & Co. "in the event of a successful transaction" and also gave it 10-year warrants for up to 75,000 shares of its stock at $6.20 a share.

PlanetOut also agreed to cash payments for its interim chief financial officer and its chief technology officer if they don't leave the company before the end of 2008. Daniel Steimle, the interim CFO, would be paid $100,000 and CTO Bill Bain $50,000 under the deal.

PlanetOut stock fell another 8% on today's news. It almost seems impossible for the company to survive.

SpecPubs Sued For $4M After Kid Sees Gay Porn

Kent Blackwelder, a former Big Brother contestant, is suing Specialty Publications for $4M because his 12 year-old daughter opened a mailing from them which contained gay porn, including a sample DVD from Titan Media, Farm Fresh.

From the suit: "Mary Doe [Blackwelder's daughter], being a curious child and thinking the free DVD offer was for a Disney movie, opened the envelope at which time she was horribly shocked to see numerous sexually explicit photographs of completely nude males."

The suit is seeking damages for "extreme emotional distress" for both Blackwelder and his daughter. "As a result of the negligence of Specialty Publications, the [Blackwelders] have sustained great pain of body and mind and emotional stress, including shock, horror, humiliation and embarrassment as well as anxiety." Specialty Publications used to be owned by PlanetOut, which sold off the division last year.

Oh, the horror and humiliation of accidentally seeing a picture of people having sex! Ow, my freekin' eyes! And how did Blackwelder get on that list in the first place? I'd just like to get paid for having seen Two Girls, One Cup. Ow, my freekin' soul!

PlanetOut Stock Tumbles On Sale News

After yesterday's news that PlanetOut is planning to sell itself, its stock tumbled another 23%. The company has lost 87% of its value since January 2007. In an effort to retain their NASDAQ listing, last year the company performed a 1-10 reverse stock split. Companies must maintain a stock value of over $1 to maintain their listing on the exchange. PlanetOut is trading at the moment at $4.56.

PlanetOut owns Gay.com and the magazines Advocate and Out. The ownership of the Gay.com domain name is considered by some to be the company's most valuable asset.

PlanetOut On The Ropes Again

PlanetOut, parent company of Out, Advocate, Gay.com, is looking for a financial savior again.

Struggling gay and lesbian media and entertainment company PlanetOut Inc.LGBT] late Monday said it has retained Allen & Company LLC to assist it in evaluating strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company.

Read more »

PlanetOut Unloads RSVP Cruises

Continuing to shed lackluster properties, PlanetOut has sold their RSVP cruise business to main rival Atlantis Events for an undisclosed amount. The sale will not affect RSVP's scheduled itinerary or passengers already booked. According to reports, Atlantis plans on maintaining the RSVP brand.

In June this year, PlanetOut sold SpecPub, their adult magazine division. CEO Karen Magee says the latest move is a continuation of the company's new focus on advertising-driven revenues. Fresh from a Corp-O-Speak conference, Magee said, "From a corporate perspective, we believe this transaction demonstrates to our shareholders that we are continuing to deliver on our commitment to leverage our strengths by simplifying our business model and emphasizing our core competencies."

Advocate Comes Out

PlanetOut Partners has announced that the Advocate will now ship to subscribers without the cloaking cover that previously shielded its identity. Out will follow suit shortly. A good move, long overdue. Those that don't want the mailman to know their business can still request their subscriptions be cloaked.

Bill Gates Buys Controlling Stake In PlanetOut

A holding company that invests the wealth of Bill Gates has bought a 56% controlling stake in failing PlanetOut Partners, owner of Advocate and Out magazines, Gay.com, and RSVP Cruises. Cascade Investments LLC joined with several other private equity firms in the rescue of PlanetOut stock, more than doubling its stock value from its 52-week low of $0.86. Shortly after PlanetOut's 2004 IPO, the stock had traded as high as $14.26.

Last week PlanetOut announced that it was selling its adult magazine division, SpecPub, a move now seen as likely made in deference to Gates' wishes not to be associated with sexual imagery. The disposition of Gay.com, mostly used for sexual hook-ups, in not yet known. PlanetOut has a long history with Gates - in 1995 they launched as a channel on then-fledgling MSN. The partnership failed when Microsoft's V-Chat was largely ignored by consumers, forcing PlanetOut to launch their own internet presence.

PlanetOut To Shed Adult Division

Is PlanetOut beginning to dismantle? In a self-reported story posted on the Advocate's site, PlanetOut Partners has announced it is selling its adult publishing division, SpecPub, as it attempts to stem the hemorrhage of red ink. SpecPub comprises four gay adult magazines: Unzipped, [2] Magazine, Men Magazine, and Freshmen. PlanetOut is revamping Advocate, with a planned redesign set to launch in September.

The company's primary lender has set June 30th as the date by which the company must raise $7M to meet its obligations, with another $8M due by August 31st. PlanetOut's stock price climbed modestly today, at the moment it's at $1.37 vs. yesterday's close of $1.15. RSVP Cruises, which the company has blamed for a portion of its woes, is said to be back on track to meet revenue forecasts.

PlanetOut Tumbles

Ouch. PlanetOut's stock price has nosedived since last week's earnings announcement, closing yesterday at $1.11, recovering slightly from an all-time low of $0.86 at midday. The 52-week high for the stock, which trades as LGBT, was $7.95.

HomoQuotable - Karen Magee

"This is deeply disappointing and concerning to me and the rest of the management team." - PlanetOut CEO Karen Magee, announcing that the company, owner of Out, Advocate, and Gay.com, will be out of money by the end of the year without an infusion of cash.

PlanetOut reported a first quarter loss of nearly $7M on Friday, sending its stock tumbling to an all-time low of $1.64. Shares in PlanetOut trade under the ticker name "LGBT." The company has to come up with $15M to meet the terms of an existing loan or face the foreclosure of its assets. Magee blames RSVP, the company's travel agency, for many of the company's woes. RSVP Cruises has faced decreasing occupancy, forcing penalties paid to cruise lines.

Like many of you, my personal gay activism was shaped in a large part by the Advocate, the nation's longest running gay publication. I was reading it when it still on newsprint. The loss of PlanetOut would be a real blow to the community, let's hope they can pull it out of this tailspin.