Friend Finder IPO gets shelved

[ShellyCrash]

From Reuters:

The company, which was bought by the publisher of men's magazine Penthouse for $500 million in 2007, did not say when it might again try to price the IPO, but said in a statement it would not proceed "until market conditions improve."

FriendFinder intended to sell 20 million shares for between $10 and $20 each and use the proceeds largely to pay down debt. FriendFinder first filed for the IPO in December 2008, and initially sought to raise as much as $460 million.

Full Article

[RAM]

Very Cool

[EscortBiz]

think its smart not to come out at this time with any ipo, doing a ipo in a bad time can really fuck allot of people (it would of been the first time someone got fucked from aff) :-)

wish them the best

[ShellyCrash]

Looks like the same thing is happening to the Ashley Madison / Avid Dating Life IPO as well:

The Toronto company had planned to go public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in a matter of weeks to raise at least $60 million in an initial public offering, according to sources and media reports.

But one source who has been provided details about the offering said efforts to woo investors seem to have met with a cool response.

"They're putting that plan on hold, citing market conditions," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Avid could not be reached immediately for comment, but media reports in recent days indicated banks and big investors were hesitant to get involved in the deal, despite Avid's solid financial record.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100202/..._uk_avid_ipo_1

[slapass]

That sucks. It would be nice to see an adult company come out like that.

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

Saw this at Barron's:

You have to wonder if the market conditions will ever improve enough to allow FriendFinder to go public; while it operates some legitimate dating sites, the company mostly traffics in Web porn.

According to its IPO filing, the company?s properties include sites like AdultFriendFinder.com, where you can see your potential friends in the altogether, GetItOn.com, ?where members from around the world log on to chat and view each other via their webcams,? Cams.com, ?where members pay per minute to chat with models who broadcast on the website via their webcams,? ALT.com, ?catering to users with fetish, role-playing and other alternative sexuality interests,? Bondage.com, where members discuss, uh, the whipping they are taking in the bond market (or something along those lines), and weirdly enough, BigChurch.com, a ?Christian dating website with searchable bible passages and daily bible chapter e-mails.?

They also own Penthouse magazine.

I am trying to imagine the Street doing a financial model for GetItOn.com., or a portfolio manager trying to defend his investment in the bondage market.

Time for another exit strategy, I think.

And this in another trade journal:

Adult entertainment company Friendfinder Networks is canceling its IPO. The reason: ?based on market conditions, it has chosen not to proceed with its planned initial public offering at this time until market conditions improve.?

Translation: appetite for its own IPO was less than lukewarm, and the jittery market conditions is a good way out. Considering its earnings picture and what it needed the money for, that isn?t a surprise.

The company filed for an IPO slightly more than a year ago, at that time hoping to raise $460 million in it. In the last month it cut its ambitions in half: it was hoping to sell 20 million shares for $10 to $12, which at midpoint would have raised about $220 million. And according to reports, it was having trouble raising even that amount.

Sounds like Friend Finder couldn't find friends on Wall Street to believe in them...go figure!

ADG

[undersoul]

interesting thought this was going to happen

[Slappin Fish]

Sounds like Friend Finder couldn't find friends on Wall Street to believe in them...go figure!

ADG

"....it had managed to raise $105 million by Wednesday night, according to AP, by selling 15 million shares for $7 apiece."

Why don't you get off your shoebox for once and quote the whole article

[marcop]

"....it had managed to raise $105 million by Wednesday night, according to AP, by selling 15 million shares for $7 apiece."

Why don't you get off your shoebox for once and quote the whole article

They must be very brave or very foolhardy investors to put money into FF.

[will76]

From Reuters:

did not say when it might again try to price the IPO, but said in a statement it would not proceed "until market conditions improve."



Full Article

or they go bankrupt first. A lot of financial guys were saying this was their last ditch hail mary pass to not go bankrupt.... "market conditions" to improve enough for a sinking ship porn company to go puiblic, LOL maybe back in the late 90's when could take a startup site with no assets or value public but not these days, not any more.


So the next question is, how long till they implode, go bankrupt, stop paying affiliates, sell off the different properties and raid the coffers? Anyone that doubts what will happen next needs to look no further than what happened to ibill once Stanton and Bell took that sinking ship over. Where did all the money go? got a feeling people will be saying this phrase about AFF in the next couple years.

[ShellyCrash]

or they go bankrupt first. A lot of financial guys were saying this was their last ditch hail mary pass to not go bankrupt.... "market conditions" to improve enough for a sinking ship porn company to go puiblic, LOL maybe back in the late 90's when could take a startup site with no assets or value public but not these days, not any more.


So the next question is, how long till they implode, go bankrupt, stop paying affiliates, sell off the different properties and raid the coffers? Anyone that doubts what will happen next needs to look no further than what happened to ibill once Stanton and Bell took that sinking ship over. Where did all the money go? got a feeling people will be saying this phrase about AFF in the next couple years.

It's pretty crazy to see such a giant crush under it's own weight, but I don't think they've run out of ways to monetise what they have to the point of dismantle. Only time will tell I suppose.

[Caligari]

they might go under, and soon, and thats fine with me. gettin a little too cocky with their fat selves putting their freaking name on dvds n shite...just silly shit-
stupid move with the ipo, just like Private tried...fucking bad news there-

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

"....it had managed to raise $105 million by Wednesday night, according to AP, by selling 15 million shares for $7 apiece."

Why don't you get off your shoebox for once and quote the whole article

I didn't quote the entire article, because I didn't think the line which you quoted was relevant to the point I was making.

Since you raised the issue, pre-IPO investments are substantially riskier than IPO investments, precisely because the company may never go public.

Quoted from the SEC website:

"Pre-IPO" investing involves buying a stake in a company before the company makes its initial public offering of securities. Many companies and stock promoters entice investors by promising an opportunity to make high returns by investing in a start-up enterprise at the ground floor level ? often a new company that claims to be related to the Internet or e-commerce.

But investing at the pre-IPO stage can involve significant risk for investors. And pre-IPO offerings targeted at the general public ? especially those that are publicized through "spam" e-mails ? are often fraudulent and illegal.

Also from sec.gov:

The Company May Never Go Public ? In a growing number of cases, fraudsters have focused on the predicted value and imminence of an alleged IPO to lure?and pressure?investors. But don't be taken in by such false promises. While some IPOs yield double- and even triple-digit returns, many others don't or quickly fall back to levels far below the IPO price. In any event, the fact remains that the company may never go public. And if that's the case, you may never recoup your investment.

It's entirely possible that those pre-IPO investors may possibly never see a dime back from FFN...

It wouldn't be the first time that scammers have used a pre-IPO to swindle people out of money.



ADG

[AmeliaG]

You can't see, but I'm wearing my surprised face.

[qwe]

why do people say they might go down I don't get it? looks to be like a good company

[will76]

It's pretty crazy to see such a giant crush under it's own weight, but I don't think they've run out of ways to monetise what they have to the point of dismantle. Only time will tell I suppose.

If it was just AFF/Cams they would be fine, and would have remained profitable. They would have been in a decline, especially with AFF as that has peaked but it still would have made good money.

The problem is that AFF/Cams is now weighted down tremendously by penthouse. Do some research on penthouse. They have been trying to leach on to something to save them for years. They tried it with ibill and and sunk ibill faster than the titanic. They will be doing the same to AFF/Cams.

Lars had the best deal of them all with Cams.com, while AFF was grossing hundreds of millions, it was on the way down and becoming involved with lawsuits. Then you have Penthouse, why would anyone want to partner up with them. I suspect Lars got suckered into a deal with AFF for some reason, AFF shorly after wanted to unload before their sales started tanking and the lawsuits started coming in but they couldn't find a buyer. Along comes penthouse which is going bankrupt trying to find something profitable to leach onto for a last ditched IPO so they could line their pockets. They convince AFF/Cams to sell to them, mainly for the stock options that will come to fruition once they package it all up nice and neat and do an IPO.... which looks like it will never happen.

That's my take/guess on it. I think the biggest loser is Lars. At the end of the day he would probably have made a lot more money if he would have held on to cams.com. It could have been the #1 cam site and still growing right now. AFF was on the down turn, now they don't have any controll, Stanton and Bell run the show and all they care about is the IPO, if that doesn't happen I am sure they have some angle they can do with liquidiation or something to still get their pockets filled.

[will76]

I didn't quote the entire article, because I didn't think the line which you quoted was relevant to the point I was making.

Since you raised the issue, pre-IPO investments are substantially riskier than IPO investments, precisely because the company may never go public.

Quoted from the SEC website:



Also from sec.gov:



It's entirely possible that those pre-IPO investors may possibly never see a dime back from FFN...

It wouldn't be the first time that scammers have used a pre-IPO to swindle people out of money.



ADG

Which is exactly the reason they sent out that email to all of their affiliates trying to entice them to "support" them going public. I wonder how many affiliates bought into that shit.

[ShellyCrash]

If it was just AFF/Cams they would be fine, and would have remained profitable. They would have been in a decline, especially with AFF as that has peaked but it still would have made good money.

My understanding of it all is the EBITA #s are good, it's the interest that's killing them. The debt they are struggling with is largely due to the purchase price Penthouse paid, and the interest on the loans they took out, to aquire the company from the original owner. I do remember he had been shopping the company around for a while before the sale, I would estimate a year give or take. He saw the timing as being optimal to make his exit and as things have panned out it looks like he had some amazing timing

[magpan]

or they go bankrupt first. A lot of financial guys were saying this was their last ditch hail mary pass to not go bankrupt.... "market conditions" to improve enough for a sinking ship porn company to go puiblic, LOL maybe back in the late 90's when could take a startup site with no assets or value public but not these days, not any more.


So the next question is, how long till they implode, go bankrupt, stop paying affiliates, sell off the different properties and raid the coffers? Anyone that doubts what will happen next needs to look no further than what happened to ibill once Stanton and Bell took that sinking ship over. Where did all the money go? got a feeling people will be saying this phrase about AFF in the next couple years.

Will, I think that you've 'hit the nail on the head' with this post. The countdown has begun.

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

If it was just AFF/Cams they would be fine, and would have remained profitable. They would have been in a decline, especially with AFF as that has peaked but it still would have made good money.

The problem is that AFF/Cams is now weighted down tremendously by penthouse. Do some research on penthouse. They have been trying to leach on to something to save them for years. They tried it with ibill and and sunk ibill faster than the titanic. They will be doing the same to AFF/Cams.

Lars had the best deal of them all with Cams.com, while AFF was grossing hundreds of millions, it was on the way down and becoming involved with lawsuits. Then you have Penthouse, why would anyone want to partner up with them. I suspect Lars got suckered into a deal with AFF for some reason, AFF shorly after wanted to unload before their sales started tanking and the lawsuits started coming in but they couldn't find a buyer. Along comes penthouse which is going bankrupt trying to find something profitable to leach onto for a last ditched IPO so they could line their pockets. They convince AFF/Cams to sell to them, mainly for the stock options that will come to fruition once they package it all up nice and neat and do an IPO.... which looks like it will never happen.

That's my take/guess on it. I think the biggest loser is Lars. At the end of the day he would probably have made a lot more money if he would have held on to cams.com. It could have been the #1 cam site and still growing right now. AFF was on the down turn, now they don't have any controll, Stanton and Bell run the show and all they care about is the IPO, if that doesn't happen I am sure they have some angle they can do with liquidiation or something to still get their pockets filled.

To me the whole Penthouse/AFF deal, and subsequent IPO attempt/charade, smelled to high heavens from the get go...

Legendary Lars is a loser alright, but not in the sense that you intimated, since he has been a scammer of sorts since way back. Perhaps few remember his Napster-like music sharing business which pre-dated his cam company (and the ensuing legal action, etc).

Adult Friend Finder has been sued by the government for shady business practices, and that is prior to the Penthouse takeover, under Andrew Conru's stewardship.

Who was the company at the forefront of subsidizing the tube sites that have hurt the adult industry the most since their inception. If you are sensing a trend here, you got it!

I'm guessing that all of the principals (Lars Mapstead, Andrew Conru, Marc Bell, Daniel Staton), have already made out like raped apes even though the company now known as Friend Finder Network (FFN) is drowning in debt.

This is due, in my opinion, primarily because of their selfish avarice, huge egos, and insatiable greed.

Even if FFN ultimately goes bankrupt, the aforementioned individuals will still have made out like bandits, since I'm guessing that they surely ensured that they were paid a King's ransom while tanking their business into the ground, courtesy of the investors that they con(vinc)ed to invest into a company that was rotten to the core.

While I will feel bad for all of the unwitting investors should FFN ultimately go under, I will not shed a tear if the ringleaders end up losing everything over lawsuits, and even if they should end up in jail.

ADG

[shimmy2]

they made out like raped apes eh ADG