Gallery Carre
The Porn Business Goes Public
Sep 5th, 2008 by Viviane
by Tom Johansmeyer
Is porn really growing up? There’s no shortage of talk about the mainstreaming of the skin trade, but most of it misses the mark. Instead of ogling the Vivid Video billboard on 7th Ave, check out the OTC listings instead. Adult entertainment just got a new publicly traded player, Adult Entertainment Capital, Inc., and the flesh biz just moved a step closer to legitimacy.
For the past year and a half, we’ve seen finance creep into porn. AdultVest launched with endless fanfare and now claims it has access to $11 billion in investable assets (which doesn’t mean much–see below). The company has already done a handful of deals, and with its latest, iPorn, AdultVest is playing an operating role. Penthouse Media Group International (PMGI) has announced its plans to go public, hunting for $250 million in fresh capital.
But these companies are still playing in potential. Adult Entertainment Capital is already traded, though over-the-counter (ZLST.OB). To AEC’s credit, the principals are not porn people, which means they probably have a sense of how to run a company. They’re already making acquisitions, with the ComedyNet pickup being the most recent. And, I’m told, they have more in the pipeline.