Penthouse IPO or AdultFriendFinder IPO?; Digital Acquisitions Planned
This story was written by Joseph Weisenthal.
Penthouse Media Group says it plans to use the proceeds of its just-announced $250 million IPO to pay down its debt. It'll be awhile before the S-1 comes out, but it looks like this debt is probably related to its $500 million purchase of AdultFriendFinder.com parent Various Inc. last December. Bloomberg notes today that the company has said the purchase of the adult-themed social networking company boosted Penthouse's revenue by 11 fold. Basically, Penthouse is Various, with much better brand recognition. In addition to its most well known site, the company also owns other community/social-nets like Italianfriendfinder.com and BigChurch (yes, a site targeting Christian singles). So assuming things go forward and the filing happens, it should be a helpful clean look behind the numbers for these kinds of sites.
Also, according to the article, the company plans more digital acquisitions outside of the adult entertainment business. While the brand name might still be associated with the eponymous magazine, it basically looks like a holding company for the investor group that plucked it out of bankruptcy.
By Joseph Weisenthal