PinkTV—which is owned by 17 different investors—has signed an agreement with an unnamed Swiss company that will take over operations no later than April 15, according to PinkTV Chief Executive Officer Jan A. Verleur.
Terms of the $7 million (USD) deal include paying off more than $3 million (USD) in debt accrued by PinkTV. The remainder of the funds will be injected into the PinkTV operating entity.
Verleur, who signed a new seven-year contract as a part of the buyout, said he will "remain in control of all PinkTV operations and will be on the board of the new Swiss parent. The original parent company is being disbanded, and once the transaction is finally completed, there will be a great influx of new capital to be used for operations—and more importantly, the company will be debt-free. So this means the profits will be more quickly distributed out to the [shareholders]."
According to Verleur, the cash injection means PinkTV will be "able to finance projects two years in advance."
The company soon will announce the hiring of two new executives who will act as vice president of business development and chief technology officer.
Verleur said PinkTV has been growing rapidly: At the end of 2006, it had more than 2,000 paying members. Those members—along with more the company hopes to acquire—will see some changes soon, he added.
"First, the company will release v2.0 of its Web services in April, and a whole new format to its broadcast operations will commence shortly thereafter," Verleur said. "Version 2.0 was to be included in our market launch last year, but has consistently been delayed for financing reasons, so the new Web properties will more closely resemble my promises of the past."
PinkTV also will offer 12 hours of live broadcasts each day in what Verleur describes as, "a QVC-style [approach] where woman are auctioned off in a live TV show for private sessions. In order to provide that additional staff, it will cost $80,000 more a month—and, of course, this deal will allow that."
Since PinkTV will require a larger staff, Verleur said he plans to hire "an additional 14 staff members over the next 60 days, which will bring the staff up to 38 employees, excluding talent."
The PinkTV staff also will benefit from the new company structure, as they are shareholders, Verleur said.
Looking to the future, Verluer said the company plans to launch TV channel platforms in Europe during the fourth quarter of 2007. Plans also exist to expand the company's video-on-demand distribution and launch more interactive hotel platforms.
