PlanetOut Inc.
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| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1995 |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Successor | Here Media |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
Key people | Tom Rielly, founder/CEO Jon Huggett, CEO Megan Smith, CEO Karen Magee, CEO Lowell Selvin, Chairman Mark Elderkin, founder of Gay.com |
| Products | Gay.com PlanetOut.com The Advocate Out Magazine |
Number of employees | 131 |
| Website | PlanetOutInc.com |
PlanetOut, Inc. is an online media company or entertainment company exclusively targeting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) demographic.
Originally founded as an early internet-based media company by Tom Reilly in 1995,[1] it operated several LGBT-themed web sites, the first being an independent producer Forum on the Microsoft Network (MSN).
History
PlanetOut launched in August 1995 on the Microsoft Network, founded by Tom Rielly and a core team of co-founders including their first staff member Darren Nye as MSN Producer and Community Director, Christian Williams as Technical Director, Jenni Olson as Arts & Entertainment Producer (PopcornQ) and Greg Gordon as News Producer.[2]
In April 1996, with Rielly as President and Jon Huggett as CEO, PlanetOut Inc. closed its first round of funding, a $3 million minority share investment by Sequoia Capital and America Online. In September 1996 PlanetOut launched its services on the web.[3]
By late 1996, PlanetOut was unable to attain the projected $1 million in ad revenue and Rielly was removed as president. In January 1997, Sequoia Capital exited as an investor though America Online remained.[4] Huggett later left the company and Rielly temporarily returned as CEO.[5]
At the close of the year in 2006, the company reported a $3.7m loss on revenue of $68.6m. Although this was a 93 percent improvement on 2005 revenues, the purchase of RSVP[clarification needed] was the beginning of the end for PlanetOut.[6]
The downfall of Planetout was reported to be mismanagement.[7]
In April 2008, PlanetOut released a letter of intent to sell LPI and specialty publications to Regent Releasing, which owns here! Films.[8][9]
References
- ^ "PlanetOut Merges With Here Networks". AdWeek. June 18, 2009.
- ^ "PlanetOut debuts - new online service targets gay men and lesbians". 1995-08-21.
- ^ "Global gay and lesbian Internet resource premieres - PlanetOut opens on the Web and AOL". 1996-09-04.
- ^ "PlanetOut plans a reorganization - Sequoia Capital exits as investor - AOL still backer". January 27, 1997.
- ^ "Reorg rocks PlanetOut". January 29, 1997.
- ^ "Riverboat Cruises sink PlanetOuts forecast". 2006-09-08. Retrieved 2006-09-08.
- ^ "PlanetOut (LGBT) can't make it - so it will fake it". BloggingStocks. 2007-09-05. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ^ "Letter of Intent". April 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ Sass, Erik (2008-04-14). "PlanetOut Is Out Of Publishing (And $26 Million)". MediaDailyNews. Archived from the original on 2009-06-09.