PlanetOut.com

PlanetOut Inc.

Former type	Public
Successor	Here Media
Founded	1995
Defunct	2009
Headquarters	San Francisco, CA
Key people	Tom Rielly, Founder/CEO Jon Huggett, CEO Megan Smith, CEO Karen Magee, CEO Lowell Selvin, Chairman Mark Elderkin, Founder Gay.com
Products	Gay.com PlanetOut.com The Advocate Out Magazine
Number of employees	131
Website	PlanetOutInc.com

PlanetOut Inc. was a public media and entertainment company founded by Tom Rielly in 1995, exclusively targeting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) demographic. It operated several LGBT-themed web sites, the first being an independent producer Forum on the Microsoft Network (MSN).

Planetout launched in August 1995 on the Microsoft Network; founded by Tom Rielly and a core team of co-founders including their first staff member Darren Nye as MSN Producer and Community Director, Christian Williams as Technical Director, Jenni Olson as Arts & Entertainment Producer (PopcornQ) and Greg Gordon as News Producer. Other co-founders who joined the company soon afterward included David Stazer as Web Producer, Eric Mueller as AOL Producer and Mary Salome as News Producer/PR.

In April 1996, with Tom Rielly as President and Jon Huggett as CEO, PlanetOut Inc. closed its first round of funding, a $3 million minority share investment by Sequoia Capital and America Online. And in September 1996 PlanetOut launched its services on the web at www.PlanetOut.com and a site on America Online.

By late 1996, PlanetOut was unable to attain the projected $1 million in ad revenue and Tom Rielly was removed as President. In January 1997, Sequoia Capital exited as an investor though America Online remained. Jon Huggett later left the company and Tom Rielly temporarily returned as CEO. Megan Smith was subsequently appointed as CEO and Tom Rielly remained on the Board.

In 2000, PlanetOut Inc. merged with by their largest competitor, Gay.com to become PlanetOut Partners, Inc.

On October 14, 2004 PlanetOut went public and became the first gay-directed business to trade its stock on a major United States stock exchange (the Nasdaq). Their initial public stock offering of 4.65 million shares gained 16% on the first day of trading, closing at $10.40. PlanetOut adopted LGBT as its ticker symbol.

In November 2005 PlanetOut Partners acquired LPI Media, the publisher of The Advocate, Out Magazine, HIV Plus, and Alyson Books, becoming the largest LGBT related Media Company, with multiple print magazines and multiple websites on various platforms/services.