I read this in one of the comments:
""""" Just read the S-1. The most important point is that the acquisition was funded primarily by Notes which is why there is so much debt now. So now the company is trying to go public to raise equity cash to pay off the previous owners Various Inc.
Also there is a $60M+ issue where the previous owners did not collect/pay VAT in European countries so that’s part of why the purchase price looks only in the $400M’s even though it was originally announced at $500M. """"""
Which makes a lot of sense. It sounded like Penthouse wanted to go IPO but they were a sinking ship with shitty sales figures. They lured (greed) Various to the table and promised them riches beyond their wildest dreams if they would sell out to Penthouse so penthouse would then look good enough on paper to go IPO.
At some point penthouse couldn't pull off the IPO so Various bought Penthouse (shuffling paper) and now Various is the one trying to do the IPO.
I'll have to dig up an old post I made over year ago, if the IPO didn't happen I bet Lars and Andrew get fucked. Penthouse has had a terrible history and has no future. They got suckered in on greed, were paid note and sold on future riches of an IPO. If the IPO doesn't happen they will likely be a lot worse off than they would have been if they didn't do the deal with Penthouse.
Its funny, Various was looking for someone to sell to, knowing AFF was at its peak they wanted to unload. Along comes Penthouse, sinking ship, they both try to use each other to make a ton of money. Would love to see this cluster fuck blow up. Almost there.
This would be a serious blow to tube sites, AFF definitely shells out a fuck ton of cash
AFF doesn't sell at all for me, but if they did collapse, it'd kind of be a shame since they are the only adult dating site out there with ACTUAL real females on it. I guess it would never disappear, just change hands.
I will open the bidding at $5
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Yea I have always hated AFF because of the shit sites and affiliates they allowed to promote them. It's sites like them, Brazzer and a few others that are the only reason illegal tube and warez sites are profitable.
Not to mention password and file sharing forums. I would love to see these fucks go out of business call it a case of Karma, even if I don't believe in that stuff.
Brazzer will likely get hit hard by this whole Master Card deal because it's likely Visa will be following their lead and we can only hope they do it internationally.
So by instanly cutting out xsales like this you are just out right stopping a hughe part of their profits. That means they will have to act fast to replace that revenue and it's unlikely they can do it any time soon.
So IMO it's starting to look like maybe 2009 will be a good year for legit affiliates because we will once again be a commodity that is needed to mantain a program.
Yeah, a bunch of affiliates are gonna get fucked. That's always the case when any kind of sponsor goes down the shitter. Affiliates are the last to get paid, which usually means never.
AFF isn't going to be the only one in 2009. Many of these high PPS cross sale dependent programs are going to struggle to survive too.
My TGPs: Bevy Of Boobs | Bevy Of Babes | Babes In Boots | Well Heeled Women | Dressing For Sex | Stocking Vixens
lol just found this on GFY...
Investment bankers ranting and raving about the FriendFinder IPO
By James Gwildermen
Dec. 24, 2008 (Market Press) – As many are celebrating Hanukah and Christmas Wall Street executive on all level are celebrating the announcement of FriendFinders IPO.
Michael Hillberger a well known stock market analyst and father of 3 was recently served with divorce papers after his wife found a friendfinder owned website in is internet history file, the divorce will cost him over $56 million dollars and that is greater than the annual income friend finder has.
In a recent phone interview Mr. Hillberger said “I wish they would have announced this IPO months ago, I would have been able to tell my wife I was researching the FriendFinder company”.
His voice is echoed all over Wall Street as executives scrambled to open AdultFreidnFinder accounts without the fear of being caught by their wives. Harry Goldstein a managing partner at Goldman, Grossberg, Hirshfed & Katzenbogen claims that now is a great time for women who are seeking Wall Street Executives to create profiles on the FriendFinder Network.
Mr. Goldstein claims that his first attempt on the AdultFreindFinder site was very successful; In a recent Interview he said “This girl claimed she is seeking a quick fling with any guy or girl regardless of his or her looks” this sounded perfect for him as he is your typical Investment Banker 5’4 290lbs with a combover, Within minutes of her seeing his photo he got a email from Irena-iskakev@mail.ru stating “My name Irena I love you photos me very shy I want travel to U.sA I am student can you help kindly please with expense ticket I can email you my infos for western union”. After talking with her on the phone he said “the girl is obviously in love with me her photos are amazing her voice is a bit thick because she has a cold but I sent her an undisclosed amount thru western union and hope to meet her soon”.
This is the first company to go public since the start of the stock market that does not have to explain who they are or what they do as every executive on Wall Street is very familiar with the name AdultFriendFinder a Social Networking website, wink-wink .
Jim Cramer from Mad Money will be adding a new sound effect to his sound board that will play a “Girl having sex and moaning” sound when he refers to the FriendFinder IPO and Stock.
Last Updated: December 24, 2008 11:00 EST
Seriously though, im taking a guess here but while they have real people on AFF what, maybe 10% real? It's not like it is much different than the other dating sites. I've come to believe that the majority of people who join adult dating sites and dont cancel stay just to look at the nude pictures. But that is just a guess on my part. (besides the obvious that they forget to cancel.)
Don't let AFF fool you with the " rouge affiliates" in 90%++ of the cases it was AFF the company paying to be on these shit sites and not some affiliate.
As far as cross sales you can still do them if you use the same processing company. If you ccbill you can do a cross sale with another ccbill site. A lot of these companies use merchants that some other companies use, so they can still cross sale them.
If they can't find anyone on the same merchant all they going to do is cross sale themselves. So the little guys who live off of cross sales only will be screwed in this case unless they start using the same merchant as the big boy they want to get cross sales from. The big companies that get lots of new sales will still do cross sales they will just cross sale their own sites. Take Dee for example, he owns what 20 different programs? According to Mastercard rules he can do cross sales to his other sites and still accomplish the same goal and it would be no different to the end customer than it is now.
(at least this is the way I understand it to work).
The good thing with the PPS ones is if they go out of business and don't pay people it shouldn't be for more than 1 pay period, 2 at most depending upon how long of a hold they have. Once you see payment late more than a couple days for everyone and you getting paid PPS i would be ready to pull links quick if you suspect the shutting down.
If you get paid % on one of these sites.... hold your breath and hope they don't go out of business. You will lose tons of money in future revenue if they do. Always the risk of a % program.
That article was retarded. Seriously, if you are smart enough to make 50++ million but yet dumb enough to not be able to cover your tracks and let your wife bust you on a dating site.... With that kind of money he should be disposable lap tops. Use it once and throw it away lol.
I am sure millions of stock market guys will be signing up to AFF now because they can tell their wifes it was for work. That's retarded and pretty much the esense of that article.
$100+ payouts will do that..when half the profiles are either duplicates of others or fake.