Private Media Group says its stock price has doubled since the multimedia company's initial listing on the high-tech NASDAQ composite was confirmed over a year ago.
Private stock closed at $33 a share May 3, with the stock's maximum price since its NASDAQ confirmation in January 1999 hitting $40 on February 7, said Private chief executive officer Berth Milton. "We have also had a steady increase in retail buyers over the period and, from our shareholder records, we know that many of our stockholders have been with us since we were on the Bulletin Board and have stayed with us loyally as long-term players," Milton said. But while thanking them for faith in the company and its stock, he stopped just short of blasting the mainstream investment world for snubbing adult entertainment despite the industry's fueling much of the profit enjoyed by mainstream media and technology companies.
Milton also said Private would continue its policy of seeking diversity in personnel in all departments. But he said he remained disappointed that mainstream investor sources like mutual funds, financial institutions, and other stock option plans and stock analysts, avoid Private because of its core adult entertainment business. "In some cases, institutions and stock analysts have admitted directly to us that they love (Private) and the stock, but they are afraid of being the first to officially recommend and support us to investors," he said. "This is ironic, considering that companies like AT&T, Marriott Hotels and On Command profit from the adult industry in providing services such as telephone lines and movies to their clients and customers."
Milton also said the fast early hits of VHS video formats and now, DVD formats, sprang explicitly from adult entertainment's demand, meaning "companies like Sony, Philips, and Matsushita all profit indirectly from the success of the adult industry. As do companies like Eastman Kodak and Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd., whose equipment and film are used."
Milton said he makes a standing offer to any mainstream investment interest to visit Private headquarters and see its professionalism for itself. "(E)verything we have achieved has been done without incurring any debt or loans," he said. "I have nothing to hide and I'd happily show you around our headquarters. Ask me whatever you wish. This is a much better means of finding out the truth than just ignoring a highly successful company like ours for what, to me and a large part of the general population, are unsatisfactory reasons."
