A Dating and Porn IPO: Read the Steamy FriendFinder Prospectus
We rarely get to see the inner workings of adult websites. Without a doubt, their innovations include a host of illegal and/or immoral behaviors that have been challenges to society. But I also can’t deny that the business of adult websites has driven innovations in technology ( e-commerce and online video) and process (subscription sales and affiliate advertising).
I’ve written about legal efforts to regulate adult sites. As an aside, that article (Online Porn: Regulating the Elephant in the Middle of the Room), has gained me hundreds of visitors searching for ‘elephant porn.’ Just imagine how disappointed they must be to find a law post.
Anyway, adult sites are a widely ignored part of our industry. Conference organizers just don’t bring these operators in to talk shop, and for the most part they keep a low profile.
Hence my curiosity to learn that FriendFinder Networks, whose websites include AdultFriendFinder.com and realtime homemade porn site Cams.com, is promoting its IPO on its website, right next to semi-clad women. It’s all part of its planned $220 million IPO. (Young, single investor seeks lucrative opportunity; you get the idea.)
Now, I have no idea whether this is a good investment, but I point it out for two reasons. Thier prospectus is a free window to the upper tier of the industry. The fact that they can undertake an SEC filing testifies to the sophistication of the business.
And I started the year with the prediction that investors were hungry for digital IPOs. Not that I’m counting, but this is another example.
FriendFinder operates a few tame websites, such as FriendFinder.com and BigChurch.com, but according to its prospectus, its revenue overwhelmingly comes from adult-oriented products and services. It is inviting its members, including the 868,571 people who use its adult sites, to put some skin in the game, so to speak.
This raises the prospect of swingers and others who take part in the lifestyle sitting side by side with institutional investors on its current roadshow.
The major investment banks are sitting this one out, presumably because of the offering’s steamy nature. However, the NYSE, now free of Elliot Spitzer’s adult supervision, is totally game, and will list it under the ticker “FFN.”
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