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The reason he doesn’t simply jump into the lucrative online porn industry? Because such an endeavor would close the door on other, more mainstream options, narr

The reason he doesn’t simply jump into the lucrative online porn industry? Because such an endeavor would close the door on other, more mainstream options, narrow down his exit possibilities – such as selling to a public company – and limit the ability to take the business public in the future, Jeff says. I've noticed recently that most porn businesses are, in fact, private. The TechCrunch article alludes to this as obvious, but to me it is not. What would be the obstacles to taking a porn business public?

jacquesm 16y ago
> What would be the obstacles to taking a porn business public? Nothing, really: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/0614/6312214a.html http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/0614/6312214a.html
- neworbit 16y ago
  I don't think you're likely to contest that 1999 was an easier time for IPOs. Private Media and Playboy are both public. And unprofitable. And not especially worth all that much these days; you'd have a hard time getting a "real" IPO done even at Playboy's 180M market cap, let alone Private's 20M valuation.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    The question was 'obstacles in the way of taking a porn company public', as far as I know there are none (legal or reporting wise). I don't know why a porn company going public would be any less 'real' than any other company. 1999 was an easier time for IPOs but not an easier time to make money online. Don't mistake the money that was pumped in to the market for turnover, there are many more people making cold hard cash online now than there ever were in 1999. The one problem with porn as a business is that the number of potential exits is very limited, another problem is that the market is very fragmented which will likely limit the size of the players.
    - neworbit 16y ago
      Oh, as regards real, I mean dollar volume. You won't get Goldman to underwrite an IPO for such a small valuation. You could certainly do a shell merger or bulletin board/pink sheet listing.

jacquesm 16y ago

> What would be the obstacles to taking a porn business public? Nothing, really: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/0614/6312214a.html http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/0614/6312214a.html

neworbit 16y ago
I don't think you're likely to contest that 1999 was an easier time for IPOs. Private Media and Playboy are both public. And unprofitable. And not especially worth all that much these days; you'd have a hard time getting a "real" IPO done even at Playboy's 180M market cap, let alone Private's 20M valuation.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  The question was 'obstacles in the way of taking a porn company public', as far as I know there are none (legal or reporting wise). I don't know why a porn company going public would be any less 'real' than any other company. 1999 was an easier time for IPOs but not an easier time to make money online. Don't mistake the money that was pumped in to the market for turnover, there are many more people making cold hard cash online now than there ever were in 1999. The one problem with porn as a business is that the number of potential exits is very limited, another problem is that the market is very fragmented which will likely limit the size of the players.
  - neworbit 16y ago
    Oh, as regards real, I mean dollar volume. You won't get Goldman to underwrite an IPO for such a small valuation. You could certainly do a shell merger or bulletin board/pink sheet listing.