Current TV Network Files For $100M IPO

Current Media, the parent company of Current TV and Current.com, has filed for a $100 Million IPO on NASDEQ. Current was famously co-founded by ex Vice President Al Gore. IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) have been thin on the ground in the Web 2.0 era, but in Current's case the money will be used for expansion of their TV network as well as their website offering. We covered Current TV's internet plans in July last year and their new user-generated website Current.com in October.

In the IPO filing, Current describes their media model as "innovative but unproven".

The differences include Current "interacting with our TV network to provide a participatory "two-screen" experience"; "enabling user-generated content and participation", which it says differentiates it from "traditional "top-down" news and information websites such as CNN.com, NewYorkTimes.com and Yahoo!"; and "providing programming assistance and editorial oversight, as compared to other social news sources, such as del.icio.us and digg.com."

Not surprisingly, the valuation of the company is far less than the $2 Billion valuation given to it by one of its investors, Ronald W. Burkle, supermarket bag boy turned billionaire.

Whereas before we had to rely on estimates by research firm SNL Kagan for estimates on their revenues and profits, we now have a more clear view of their financials with the IPO filing. As it turns out, SNL Kagan revenue estimates were a bit short, showing an annual revenue of $63.7 million, a quite significant revenue increase from 2006 where revenues were only $37.8 million. What we didn’t know about the company was that it certainly isn’t profitable, with net losses increasing year over year (in 2006, they were $14.3 million, 2007 they were $17 million).