PlanetOut Finanacial Situation

[M&D]

According to a press release "Planetout Inc"

 

"announced today that it has entered into a purchase agreement in

connection with a private placement of common stock...is expected to close

on or about July 6, 2007 with PlanetOut receiving an aggregate of approximately $26.2 million in gross proceeds

from the sale of approximately 22.8 million shares of its common stock."

 

 

According to one blog, it was Bill Gates and Microsoft that bailed the company out. Go figure!

 

I wasn't really worried, but now everyone who has booked or wants to book future RSVP cruises can breathe a little easier now. :) The Party is on!

 

M&D

[aaerobear]

The institutional investors that bailed out Planet Out are:

 

Special Situations Funds, Cascade Investment LLC.

SF Capitol Partners

PAR Investment Partners LP

Allen & Company LLC

 

 

Which of these is run by Gates or Microsoft?

 

They also made comments about their concerns for the “struggling cruise line division, known as RSVP”. They indicated that they would not disclose any new developments this week.

 

Of course it is well known that Planet Out has no clue, whatsoever, on how to run RSVP and have stumbled miserably (although they are not to blame for the QM2 cruise, which was great, by the way). Maybe it would serve all of us better if they found a buyer that knew what they were doing.

[ZIPPER]

If the close of $2.05 holds it will be up 23% for the day. I'm in at $1.74.

 

Now that they've got the cash, they've got great potential to be THE gay lifestyle company. They definitely should keep the RSVP division.

 

Their Q2 results were terrible, but with the help of Allen and Company hopefully they can turn it around. I was generally impressed with the managment when I met them at the stockholder's meeting in SFO a couple weeks ago. Or should I say "stockholder" meeting, apparently I was the only outside stockholder that attended!

 

Gregg

Phoenix, AZ

[Typhoon1]

Wonderful news Donny, I hope all those that canceled the 2008 cruise are happy now, along with those that said RSVP was on the way out.

[Wyldboy72]

I'm not so sure this means RSVP is safe after this year. According to one article:

 

"As for PlanetOut's struggling cruise line division, known as RSVP Vacations, Miller would not disclose any new developments this week. Magee had said in May unless there was a turnaround in bookings for the company's fall cruises, it would put a halt to bookings in 2008. "

 

If I'm reading that correctly, they are not changing their previous statement that 2008 bookings would be halted. The article futher went on to say they are looking to sell off the adult magazine division.

[sjbdtz]

I'm guessing that the link to Bill Gates is via Allen & Company (assuming that it references Paul Allen, Bill Gates' biz partner when MSFT started up).

[dcikon2]

I will admit that my partner and I would love to go on an all-gay cruise some day. However, I don't understand why all-gay cruises cost so much more than mainstream cruises. The only reason I can see for the increase cost is to pay for the booze and dj's which we have no interest. Perhaps RSVP should think about reaching out to gay and lesbians who are more interested in visiting ports and traveling rather than partying. Just a thought. This is just my impression from what I have been told.

[Boytjie]

I will admit that my partner and I would love to go on an all-gay cruise some day. However, I don't understand why all-gay cruises cost so much more than mainstream cruises. The only reason I can see for the increase cost is to pay for the booze and dj's which we have no interest. Perhaps RSVP should think about reaching out to gay and lesbians who are more interested in visiting ports and traveling rather than partying. Just a thought. This is just my impression from what I have been told.

 

FYI, the booze is not included in the cruise fare. BTW, the crews say gay cruises have the biggest alcohol consumption, they work the butts off but love it because they make good money via tips. With all that booze flowing you don't really see ugly drunks, or people falling off ships. :)

 

The charter companies do bring in their own entertainment (DJs; performers other than DJs like singers, comedians etc; sound and light equipment etc). On the February RSVP Caribbean cruise the crew were commenting on how great the entertainment was so much better that the usual cruise entertainment; for them it was a break from the monotony of "it's Monday, so it must be disco night again".

 

There are many people on gay cruises that are not that into partying; they do their own thing but still enjoying the atmosphere of an all-gay environment. It's hard to describe it, but it is amazing. And I live in New York City where being gay is not really an issue anywhere.

[etoile]

I wish they wouldn't make it sound like RSVP was originally a PNO company. They refer to it as "struggling" but honestly they were chugging along okay before the PNO buyout. No, they weren't in great shape, but they were independent and doing the best they could. Now that PNO owns it, they're in much worse shape than they were before. And yet you don't see any reference to that in the articles about the current status.

 

As for the markup, I don't think RSVP pax are uninterested in ports and solely interested in partying. Sure, some people stay on the ship all day, but they do that on mainstream cruises too. They DO provide a premium service, so there SHOULD be a markup. I don't think it should be quite as much as it is - gay charters can cost more than twice as much as the same mainstream cruise - but they do provide an enhanced service. It's definitely worth a little more, though not as much more as they ask.

[VibeGuy]

Cascade Investments is the private investment arm of Bill Gates. They have holdings in Berkshire Hathaway, Six Flags, Fisher Communications and a bunch of properties that *aren't* known, due to some clever applications of SEC rules. (If you're a geek, Cascade Investments uses the provisions of SEC Schedule 13G to avoid identifying investments and divestitures for up to one year, unless they purchase more than 5% of the company, or intend to exert managerial influence/control).

 

To be clear, this is not MSFT money - this is personal petty cash.

 

The Allen of Allen & Co. is not the bearded one who can't buy a playoff berth.

 

All in all, I think that there's underlying value in being able to connect with a targeted audience, and that various management changes will result from a bailout like this.

 

Eric

[aaerobear]

Thanks Eric, I wondered about that (especially with the Cascade part) Nice to know BG spreads it around in the community.

 

Boytjie....very well said

[M&D]

Wyldboy72,

 

I specifically asked Rob Pritchard, Director of Operations of RSVP, about that comment attributed to Magee in May while I was on board the QM2. He stated that Magee was misquoted and the reporter for the San Francisco paper quoted him (Pritchard) in the same article without ever interviewing him. He allegedly took quotes from a paper released by PNO. Pritchard stated that what Magee really said is that there would be no further booking of cruises OTHER than what had already been announced. Pritchard repeated himself several times saying that all the announced cruises for 2008 (3 so far) would go as planned.

 

The link to Bill Gates was reported by seattlest.com on July 3. According to the website, Gates made the $26.2 million investment via his private investment firm Cascade Investment LLC.

 

 

As for a premium price on Gay cruises, yea, as much as I wish they were a little closer to regular cruises in price, we still feel we get our dollars worth. We don't live in a large gay area like NYC or SFO and the opportunity to be surrounded by "family" for a week can't be beat and we are willing to pay the premium. We aren't big partiers or drinkers (Princess didn't make much off of my $75 bar bill) though but we do stop by the night parties and T-dances for the atmosphere.

 

Of all the cruises we have done (12 or 13) 5 of them being RSVP, the ones we remember the most and have the best memories of, have been aboard a RSVP chartered ship.

 

Looking forward to the Zuiderdam in 2008!

 

Mark of M&D

[Ephraim]

Cascade is Gates. It's a $6 million placement for Cascade which is... a pittance.

 

Frankly, I would think that Gates has little interest in the Gay community, positive or negative. He's a businessman and sexual orientation should have basically no input into this.

 

From statements made this year by Carnival Corporation management, I'm sure they would be interested in taking over RSVP and I wouldn't be surprised if RCCL wasn't interested as well. NCL probably doesn't have an interest, they seem to be distancing themselves from the G&L community and are having their own financial troubles (which frankly I think stems for the fact that they keep on going head to head with CCL and cost cutting instead of going to more exotic locales with their smaller ships and not competing).

[Wyldboy72]

Also, another reason for the premium on all-gay cruises is that the tour company (RSVP, Atlantis, etc) have to purchase the entire ship. On a regular cruise, the cruise line can roll losses throughout their fleet and/or make it up on other sailings. Gay tour operators pay for all the cabins regardless of how many sell, hence the higher prices. (And the cruise line gets paid for a full booking no matter what.)

[ZIPPER]

You can hear Karen Magee's (PlanetOut's president) extensive comments regarding their plans for RSVP by listening to their earnings conference call at the following link:

 

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=179769&p=irol-EventDetails&EventId=1528035

 

The call was from May 9, 2007 prior to the recently announced recapitalization.

 

 

Gregg Nelson

Phoenix, AZ

[M&D]

Woodward and Bernstein have nothing on us! :)