PlanetOut was the first gay-focused company to trade its stock on a major exchange, and it picked the ticker LGBT. In the mid-1990s the web offered many gay and lesbian people something new: a private, safe way to find each other. PlanetOut, founded in San Francisco in 1995, became one of the first online homes for that community. It merged with Gay.com and built a business on news, personals and paid memberships. It went public in October 2004.

Personals, News and Members

PlanetOut bet that a community mainstream media ignored would gather online, and that advertisers would follow. Its sites mixed news, personals and forums. Paid memberships became an important source of revenue, and the company built a strong base of paying subscribers. PlanetOut saw itself as a media brand for a whole audience. It expanded into print and travel to reach that audience in more places.

The Advocate, Bought and Sold

PlanetOut priced its IPO at $9 a share in October 2004 and listed on Nasdaq. In November 2005 it bought LPI Media, the publisher of The Advocate and Out. Growth slowed as social networks and free dating sites drew users away. The print and travel businesses struggled, and the company sold them off. In 2009 PlanetOut combined with Here Media, and its run as an independent public company ended.

Cover: Rainbow, Alfred Stieglitz. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a rainbow.