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PlanetOut Inc. is jettisoning its magazine and book publishing business, selling to Here Networks’ Regent Releasing for $6 million in cash.
The deal is expected to close by the end of August, per the San Francisco Business Times. PlanetOut, which publishes magazines like Out and Advocate, wants to narrow its focus on its websites gay.com and planetout.com. The contribution of the online segment of the company has been slipping steadily in recent years. In 2005, the online segment contributed 87 percent of the company’s revenue. That dropped to 54 percent in 2006 and to 51 percent in 2007. Its magazine publishing revenue grew in those years.
In January, PlanetOut hired Allen & Co. to help it with strategy, including a possible sale of the companyand other options. The company saw a $51.2 million loss for 2007 and has an accumulated deficit, as of Dec. 31, 2007, of about $89.5 million.
PlanetOut acquired Out and Advocate in 2005 when it purchased LPI Media.
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The deal also includes…
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The survey…
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