Recession Good For Adult Business? Penthouse-Owner FriendFinder Files For $460M IPO
Intentions for this was announced in March this year, but got scuttled, and no one thought it would re-file in this kind of market environment: Penthouse Media Group, which now goes under a more innocuous name of FriendFinder Networks, has filed its S-1, with an intent to go public and raise about $460 million. Most of the raised money will be used to pay down its debt, related to its $500 million purchase of AdultFriendFinder.com parent Various Inc. last December. Besides the adult sites and magazines, the company also runs Bigchurch.com, a dating site for Christian singles, Cams.com and others. FriendFinder says it has about 270 million members across all its networks, and in this recessionary climate, who doesn’t need more companionship, whichever kinds, that seems to be the logic with the timing.
This is Penthouse’s second attempt at going public…the previous incarnation went public in 1993. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and emerged from it a few months later. The background of the company and its troubles over the years is documented here.
According to the S-1, FriendFinder’s net revenues, operating income and EBITDA for the first nine months of this year were $262.4 million, $36.1 million and $66.6 million, respectively. It has one million paying subscribers (77 percent of its revenues), and average monthly net revenue per subscriber (ARPU) was approximately $19.06. Almost 92 percent of its revenues now come from online.
On Penthouse the magazine: “We believe that Penthouse magazine plays a key role…Accordingly, in the past few years we made significant changes to Penthouse magazine in order to appeal to a wider customer base. We softened the magazine’s pictorial content to improve newsstand positioning and attract a wider national advertising base, and we added editorial content covering sports, music, video and gaming in order to attract additional categories of advertisers and new readers, primarily targeting 21 to 39 year old males. This resulted in the magazine re-entering sales channels in retail establishments. Our advertising base has expanded to now include tobacco, liquor, apparel, footwear, toiletries, men’s grooming, consumer products and direct-response companies.” Who knew?
The full S-1 is a fascinating read.
It intends to list on NYSE under the symbol “FFN.”
Related StoriesPosted In: Entertainment, Adult, Money, IPO, Social Media, friendfinder networks
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