PlanetOut’s still struggling! Despite selling RSVP Vacations and splitting its stocks, the gay publishing company – which brings us Out and The Advocate, among others – simply can’t find the cash to stay afloat.
In an effort to keep from going under completely, the company’s reportedly looking for a sugar daddy:
PlanetOut announced today that it has begun searching for potential buyers after reporting losses for seven consecutive financial quarters.
…
PlanetOut also announced that it will no longer be providing quarterly or annual earnings guidance and will not hold quarterly earnings calls; instead the gay media conglomerate will report its earnings information through its periodic filings with the SEC.The announcements came today after the close of trading, where the company’s stock finished unchanged at $6.20 per share, having hovered between $6 and $8 since September, when the company announced a 10-for-1 reverse stock split so that share prices would not dip below $1 per share — the limit allowed on the Nasdaq.
Without that reverse split, PlanetOut would be trading at 62 cents per share, a calamitous drop from its $15 per share as recently as January 2005, and $10 a year later.
God speed, gay publishing, God speed…
DaHood
They ran the company into the ground. They only people to suffer here are the LGBT readers of their declining publications. Neither OUT nor the Advocate has a voice anymore. We were raised on the Advocate for our source for serious news, it is now a lesbian agenda pamphlet. OUT once spoke to all gay men, it now speaks to a small percentage who buy Gucci and other fashion brands that have nothing to do with an average or successful gay consumer. I hope that they learned their lesson. Stay true to your base.
Naz
I agree unfortunately many gay centric publications these days focus too heavily on the city living, high brand consumer end of gay life, outside of the major gay cities, we face real issues that have unfortunately not been adequately addressed, as is clearly evident whilst flicking past the hordes of Gucci, Calvin ads in an attempt to find a “real” story. Ultimately they need to go back to their roots.
chromatic
I beg to differ that Out ever spoke for all gay men. For a period of time time, those magazines had the benefit of being novel and unique against a landscape of other lifestyle mags, but that time has passed. The changing landscape of queer politics and lifestyle have fractured and commodotized into a thousand different groups. Just like there is no monolithic “black vote” supporting Obama, queers are more diverse than a single, static, unpersonalized sheaf of pages can speak to. (There is a slightly longer response/rant on my blog.)
qjersey
Here here! I don’t know if circulation is down due to the issues mentioned above, but we shouldn’t reward a company for bad financial management. Someone had the bright idea to try to create a “gay media conglomerate” through buying up publications and websites probably with financing. The growth they counted on to pay for it probably never happened.
Why should I pay $20 a month for Planet Out or Gay.com membership when Manhunt and others are $30 for 3 months?
The Advocate lost it’s way in the 90’s with its “last page” editorials featuring the our supposed leaders telling us what to think (thanks Sully, Urvashi and Bruce). Out and Genre sold out to crass consumerism.
Instinct is the only “national” gay mag that’s actually fun and interesting to read
Charley
It gives a glossy “vanity fair” approach to our live or die, bash or be bashed, social movement. Bring back the spirit of a feisty 90’s “Outweek” in cyberspace. Paper is out. The age of materialism is crashing along with the stock market.
chromatic
oops – the link to my response is here sorry 🙂
chromatic
qjersey: the strategy in the early 00’s (when everything on the interweb was tanking) was to bring several bits of queer media together under a single umbrella to keep it alive and survive. After they emerged from survival mode they continued buying things up rather than focus on what they already had, which did not help them.
hells kitchen guy
I think Out is actually pretty good. You can criticize the New York Times for its stupid, glossy consumerist parts like “T” and Styles sections. But it still does good reporting elsewhere. Similarly, between the skin care advertorials are some good articles in Out.
No, the problem is that typical of big companies once the MBAs take charge who think they can apply what they learned in school to the real world.
Case in point: buying RSVP, letting it crash and burn, and selling for nothing to Atlantis, which did only cruises and did them much better.
DowntownTerry
hells kitchen: Out does not provide any valuable information. It is a publication that focuses on luxury goods – but never gives any practical advice on how to look like the guys in the outfits, how to find the outfit that works for your particular look or body style or how really to take your dressed up self out and show it off. It simply tries to be an apirational book — but offers complete emptiness.
DCLadyGov
It was inevitable. The stock has plummetted today, down 25%. Its essentially worthless. Planet Out bought LPI for 35MM, and now the whole company, included the online sites is market valued at less than 20MM. What a huge slap in the face to all the investors who had the wool pulled over their eyes by the woman at the helm. It makes all us girls look bad.
hells kitchen guy
Terry: in between the underwear ads, I’ve read some good articles.
Jay
The bell finally tolls for the era of misplaced priorities in gay media business world. Whether it’s what Planet Out did with The Advocate, or what Windows Media did with gay newspapers like Southern Voice and the Washington Blade, these debt plays diluted valuable community media outlets. And for what? For the buzzword-dropping egos of those days and deals, who are mostly moved off the scene now. Really shameful.
sfo
This is so sad. I am quite close to one of the original founders of PlanetOut. This person left the company once the PNO board brought in bad management that clearly did not have the best interest of the community or the original principles at heat. After struggling with the board and bad executive management, most of those from the inception left. The amount of love, work and dedication that went into building PlanetOut, for those who were there in the beginning was tremendous. It’s sad to see what a very bad board of directors and one of the worst CEO’s out there can do to a company that has such promise. To those who were there in the beginning, thank you for what you created. I hope that PNO survives and is resurrected. Perhaps those who were there in the beginning will come back to save the company and once again represent the community well.
Karen Magee should hang her head in shame, although I suspect she is busy covering her ass to avoid a shareholder lawsuit.
Bradley Fowler
I need a book publisher ASAP! Can you help me? Perhaps this book can help save Planet Out!
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gay Author Serves Bible Publisher Summons in Civil Complaint
September, 1, 2009
Canton, MI.- A Eastern District Court Judge of Southern Michigan, recently ordered Plaintiff Bradley Fowler to reissue the original summons and compliant to Defendant William Tyndale Publishing, Inc. in compliance with Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, after denying Fowler’s motion of Entry of Default, which he filed in compliance with Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, initially in April of 2009.
Seemingly, this long standing court battle has already begun to escalate into an ugly war over Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and the District Court Judge seems to be siding with the Defendant, despite Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12, which gives all Pro Se Litigants considerable liberality and are held to less stringent standards than those expected of pleadings drafted by lawyers.
Pro Se litigant Bradley Fowler filed his initial complaint against Zondervan Publishing L.L.C. and Thomas Nelson Publishing L.L.C. in June of 2008, yet both civil complaints were dismissed because Fowler failed to file his complaints in a timely manner with Federal Statue of Limitation laws. However, Bradley was able to file a timely complaint against William Tyndale Publishing Inc. in January of 2009. Since then, Fowler has filed a motion for Entry of Default against Defendant William Tyndale Publishing Inc. in April of 2009. But the District Court Judge denied Fowler’s motion for Entry of Default against William Tyndale Publishing Inc. on a technicality, and ordered Fowler to reissue both the original summons and complaint to William Tyndale Publishing Inc. in August, 2009, assuming Fowler had not served William Tyndale Publishing Inc. in compliance with Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, despite Fowler showing the District Court Judge proof that he’d served the defendant properly.
Even though William Tyndale Publishing Inc. denied responding to the initial summons and compliant Fowler issued them back in March of 2009; Bradley admits he is very much aware of the importance of adhering with all Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. And despite the signature confirmation issued by the U.S. Postage Service which proves a representative of William Tyndale Publishing Inc. signed for the summons and complaint on April 19, 2009, the District Court Judge has since extended the initial 20 day response time for Tyndale to respond, even though doing so is a violation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, unless the defendant filed for such an extension in compliance with Federal Rules of Civil Procedure by requesting for such an extension before the response time elapsed. In this case, Tyndale did no such thing. Still, Fowler continues to maintain his position as a Pro Se litigant, with only a favorable time span of six months Paralegal study time, which he acquired from Penn Foster College.
Nevertheless, the allegations in this case are overwhelming. So much, Bradley’s compliant alleges that Tyndale Publishing, Inc. published two Bibles in 2008 that read completely opposite of one another, regarding the implementation of the negative connotation towards homosexuals, found in I Corinthians 6:9 of Tyndale’s New Living Translation Holy Bible and their New Life Application Study Bible, which one Bible dictates homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God, while the other is completely void on the issue altogether. In fact, Bradley stresses several other scriptures that defy what Tyndale has done to its many Bibles.
So much, he shares three particular scriptures from the book of Romans. “But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above: ) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) Romans 10: 6 & 7, of the Holy Bible. And, Romans Eight, verses six and seven, which read: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are of the flesh cannot please God.”
For centuries, great debates have escalated about homosexuality and the Churches view of those who partake of such life style and practices. And while many have argued that those who do practice such a way of life are doomed for hell, others have learned to embrace homosexuals despite what the Bible teaches. In fact, today, same-sex couples are granted the same right to marriage as heterosexuals in such states as Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, and Iowa. Still, the issue of same-sex marriage does not attain the same level of acceptance from all American citizens, particularly those who are religious followers. And consequently, such conclusions are derived solely based on biblical revisions, because many Americans view same-sex marriage as an abomination and against the Word of God.
Still with great zeal Bradley seeks to encourage Americans to rethink their ideas on the subject of same-sex marriage and or, how they view homosexuals altogether. So much, he has already compiled a significant amount of compelling evidence to support his findings and purpose for filing his civil complaint against William Tyndale Publishing Inc. You can view this evidence on his website at http://www.esotericesecrets.org
And with such an extensive level of evidence in his favor, it would seem that the District Court Judge would have ordered a favorable ruling on his motion for Entry of Default. Yet is seems in this case, Bradley has a long battle awaiting him. After all, he is the first person in history to ever file a civil compliant against the Bible publisher for a misrepresentation of biblical facts. Maybe its time for the truth to be revealed about biblical revisions, but is an ex-con like Bradley Fowler really capable of winning his case? Only the Federal District Court Judge can make that determination; after all, he has the authority to do so.
To read some of the evidence compiled by Bradley Fowler, log on to his website at: http://www.esotericsecrets.org
Press Contact:
Positive Light for Positive Living
C/o LaShawn Fowler
Email: [email protected]
678-833-9233