Bill Gates Invests in Gay.com

[pab]

Posted: 7/4/07 at 9:47am

"It's fantastic that Rev. Hutcherson's pro-discrimination ballot initiative died a sad, lonely death recently. The fortunes of domestic partnerships in our state are on the rise, Democratic Presidential candidates seem to have their gay houses more or less in order and Seattle Pride just wrapped up its second go-round Downtown. Things seem to be looking up, but Seattlest likes to judge which way the wind blows by figuring out where the money goes. The local money is in Redmond. Er, Medina... Meaning Bill Gates has it. And he's investing it in PlanetOut to the tune of $26.2 million via his private investment firm Cascade Investment LLC.

PlanetOut owns legendary hook-up site Gay.com, RSVP Vacations, The Advocate (which just published a "best gay places to live" list that does not include Seattle), as well as Out magazine and a bunch of other publications, each one gayer than the last. PlanetOut has been struggling, according to the P-I's John Cook, and Gates is swooping in as an investing angel. It may or may not be the big sociological indicator we want it to be, but at least it keeps the doors open at PlanetOut."
Article Here

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/4/07 at 3:28pm

this is indeed good news. I believe that the business/corporate world is one major arena for gay rights advancements. the more that world wants our money, the better things will get.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/4/07 at 3:33pm

But we don't actually have any more money than anybody else.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/4/07 at 4:44pm

don't gays statistically have more expendable income and higher salaries?

regardless, it's seeing business/corporations put money into our community and market to our communities that shows and creates progress.

[alterego]

Posted: 7/4/07 at 10:11pm

Bill, is there something you want to tell us?

[folkyboy]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 12:14am

i say that Planet Out, like most gay men, bit off more than it could chew. if it didn't try to capitalize on most of the gay community and monopolize on "gay culture" then they wouldn't be worried about affording to keep the doors open. they could've let different organizations run things their own way.

i love Dan Savage's article about how Planet Out banned him from most of their literature and then they back-peddled and suddenly changed their tune. Bill Gates is used to monopolizing so this doesn't surprise me he's cashing in on the cow.

Posted: 7/5/07 at 10:53am

Gay men don't make more money than straights, but since they don't have kids they have a lot more spendcable income. And Gay couples are almost always Double Income homes, meaning even more sepnding cash. The acronym to refer to these cash-rich folks are DINKS: Double Income, No Kids.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/5/07 at 12:02pm

That makes perfect sense.

It's that they want our money that is the distinction.