Feb
19
AEBN/NakedSword, Raging Stallion Studios Merge
February 19, 2009 | 38 Comments
[Editor's note: Gay Porn Times has signed a deal to provide LGBT content to industry publication XBIZ.] Video-on-demand network AEBN/NakedSword has merged with Raging Stallion Studios/Pistol Media to form one of the industry’s largest gay adult entertainment companies. The merger was announced this afternoon, and encompasses production and distribution, as well cross-platform online content and delivery systems that stretch across several countries and continents. Terms of the merger were not revealed at post time. “Raging Stallion will continue to operate the same way it always has,” said AEBN principal Scott Coffman. “It’s a valuable and profitable production house. But we hope they can also advise us in both the gay and straight markets to help us help our valued partners increase their own production capabilities and expand their reach.” NakedSword president Tim Valenti said the merger will increase its reach and “our ability to assist in production and our expanded promotional opportunity will keep our partner studios prosperous while the economy rebounds.” CLICK HERE for the full story at XBIZ…!
Comments
38 Comments so far
Looks like someone called in the Repo Man.
Its always entertaining how these acquisitions are called “mergers” and yet there’s little mention of RS in the press release, and no quote from anyone there. Hmm, sounds like an arranged marriage, doesn’t it? And if you are familiar with the antics and disregard for reality at RS, you know the “merger” is simple repayment for monies owed. Lots of monies.
To AEBN: good luck with that.
How this impacts the GayVNs is another story; will RS be disqualified given NakedSword’s sponsorship, or is the grand award in the bag? Tough choice, as either way is a losing proposition.
Interesting point about the GayVN Awards Jamie.
Is it a conflict of interest when the producer of an awards show also has several nominations?
Jamie — The official press release hadn’t been released when I had posted my story to XBIZ and GPTimes. I’ll have an update tomorrow with quotes from everyone, including RSS.
Regards,
JCA
This is a disaster just waiting to happen. I say boycott the Gayvn Awards.
Why do I think this will not be the first we hear of this sort of thing this year?? Reading about all of the mergers before this one in JC’s article, I don’t know if this is a good thing or not….
It’s NOT a good thing when it’s forced and this was forced. Two companies coming together to take advantage of each others strengths is one thing but when one borrows a gross amount of money from a partner to produce vanity projects (that most likely don’t make their money back) its a classic case of biting off more than you can chew and a group of people still working with dot.com mentalities. If RS wins an inordinate amount of Gayvn Awards this year who would ever support NS, RS or Gayvn again? I’m predicting some unexpected empty seats this year.
Well, despite what some of the less than leading lights of the industry have to say about this — imagine, they’re being nasty! Who’d of thought? — I just don’t entirely understand the business case. If AEBN is supposed to be the agnostic purveyor of other people’s product, then what does it do for them to get in the studio business? Wouldn’t that weaken the trust they have established with their partnering studios? I’m no expert, so I’m curious what others think. And one more thing. If you are going to get in the studio business, why pick such a niche studio? Raging Stallion is a fine producer, but its narrow. AEBN is sort of the interstate highway of online porn, right? Populating that highway with your own truck stops makes sense I guess, but if the truck stop only serves Ethiopian cuisine, how many customers will pull over and eat?
I’m not going to hold my breath for the RS take on the matter, JC; while press releases are always about the subjects’ spin on the matter, the release you quote from AEBN is more than sufficient and whatever RS had to add will be, shall we say, rather unbalanced. Unfortunately, what the one who shall not be named said is pretty close to the truth — this was not a merger of choice, but a collection of indebtedness made all the worse by the current economic climate. As Ass Pennies and Jesus Mary say above, this “merger” is an odd combination in which one side was forced to protect a poor investment by throwing good money after bad.
That said, I believe the acquisition of the collapsed RS by an online portal is a harbinger of change within the industry this year. Put on your seatbelts… it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Guys, the situation is very simple. Raging Stallion produced two overblown productions two years in a row, which they didn’t have enough money to produce on their own. They borrowed money from AEBN/NakedSword. As the movies were unprofitable, Raging Stallion found itself in deep debt. It’s time to pay the piper. But since RS has no money, they were simply bought by AEBN/NakedSword. In other words, Raging Stallion bankrupted itself for being bad businessmen and chasing after awards instead of paying attention to the bottom line. Irresponsible behavior brought them to this point. Having many shareholders and borrowing money from banks on top if it didn’t help the situation.
I am not one of the RS trashers here. I think they run as tight a ship as most, and took an opportunity in rough seas to tie themselves to a bigger raft — not a bad move at all. As for borrowing from banks, I doubt that. Banks don’t lend to gay porn companies. That why gay porn has its own banking system in place. Doesn’t anyone have anything to say about my two questions: conflict with other studios and too niche?
Jesus Mary, porn is a business of niches — I think that goes without saying. That AEBN got pulled into RS’ drama and poor business judgement is sad, but when they started acting as a bank (RS was not their first such “investment”) they assumed the risks associated with making over-the-top films, particularly with a studio not known for being a good actor in the industry. As to conflict with other studios, that’s RS’ stock-in-trade (and to preempt that question, just look at their PR war with Lucas most recently). Maybe I’m missing your point?
Either Raging Stallion’s movies or Nakedsword as a whole should be banned from the awards show. This is absurd!
The press release was poorly written and only follows suit on both Raging Stallion and Nakedsword’s attention to details and over quality. It shows complete neglect and lacks professionalism in so many levels – really consistent with both of the two companies – they belong together in my opinion.
It is a sign of the times, I’m afraid. Nothing wrong with consolidations, but when you call it any other thing just to put a spin on it it’s like Obama says, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with NakedSword; they just bought the sinking company that owed them money and could not pay it back. I think they just had no choice.
RS has at least 4 owners so cash spreads very thinly between them. Frankly I am glad that they went belly up. They really were going out of there way to hurt my business since my company won Best Picture for Dangerous Liaisons and ML’s La Dolce Vita. They’ve thrown ice at me when I accepted awards, booed me during my acceptance speeches, helped the prosecution in the lawsuits against me, etc., etc. Jealousy is an ugly vice…and I hope NakedSword/AEBN will set them straight.
Chris Ward proclaimed himself as the “first and last word in fisting.” Since he’s *practically* lost all his other titles, this might be the only one he can hold on to.
Michael Lucas
Well Michael your experience is sadly too common in the industry. The number of industry figures with bad reps for their public behavior is too long for any posting. The following classes apply, and in most cases multiple classes apply to single individuals. In order of frequency: Drug and booze induced stupidity and rudeness. Bitchiness. Acting superior toward others. Petty, tacky verbally irresponsible behavior. SIGH Its like a big dysfunctional tacky, trashy family. In my experience the RS guys have been generally none of those things, but that’s just in my experience. As for NS, I think they have one of the best staffs of bright, likable, caring people of any adult company. I can’t say the same for AEBN, but they are sort of in a class by themselves and largely straight. Having said all of that, I also think some of the coolest people I’ve ever met are in adult, and I’m glad to have had the opportunity to meet them.
Yeah. I’ve gotten some interesting comments like these on my blog as well at http://jasoncurious.com/desk/ — is it true? Was Chris Ward really going bankrupt? Did he sell his company or was it a merger? I’m confused now. lol
Wow Jesus Mary, you obviously haven’t spent any time with the staff of NakedSword.
One month can lead to a gateway of truth. Last January we were privileged with the beautifully crafted prose of yet another Raging Stallion press release. (Smirk). “Studio Caught With Its Pant’s Down: To The Last Man Sold Out”, or should I say “…With Its Pants Down…” because that it how the apparent 7-year-old they hired misspelled it. Before I get into anything let’s touch on that. It’s embarrassing to send out a press release when the company can’t even spell the simple word “pants” correctly. I can only assume they hired a kindergartner that wrote this in the dark, typed it on an Etch A Sketch and was possibly drunk. That, or Chris Ward wrote it himself. Unfortunately for Raging Stallion their grammar is the least of their problems.
With the bankruptcy…err…”merger” of Raging Stallion being obtained by Naked Sword-AEBN we should let the true facts start to fly. Being caught with your pants down really means that RSS collected so much debt in making its failed big productions that they had to sell their asses to stay afloat. Grunts and To The Last Man were hailed as industry blockbusters… well where’s the money boys? Choose the fate: RSS was so incompetent in budgeting that the money disappeared OR the films, word used loosely, never really sold enough to break even.
What I love is the gloating news letters that boast Raging Stallion is producing the highest-budgeted, most lavishly expensive films in porn history. As example with a statement last summer that the “project is the most ambitious production undertaken in gay porn in recent years.” Well they certainly took it under. Let this be a tough lesson that it is about quality not cash. It is embarrassingly pathetic for RSS to have fallen so far from their projected façade of being the west coast porn “powerhouse” to simply being an acquisition of a better, more professional organization like Naked Sword-AEBN. So, Chris Ward, how does it feel going from the CEO of your own failed company to being a mere employee of your debt collector?
Seems that my last post was deleted for saying the truth. That’s not very much like JC at all. I didn’t say anything worse than anyone says on the NS blogs about others, why the censorship JC?
Talk about the most unprofessional people in the industry? That would be the Nakedsword staff, that’s for sure!
Ugh…Raging Stallion is such a disaster they’ve even got me talking crazy. The first paragraph of my post should read as follows:
One month can lead to a gateway of truth. Last January we were privileged with the beautifully crafted prose of yet another Raging Stallion press release. (Smirk). “STUDIO CAUGHT WITH ITS PANTS DOWN: TO THE LAST MAN SOLD OUT”, or should I say “…WITH ITS PANT’S DOWN…” because that it how the apparent 7-year-old they hired misspelled it. Before I get into anything let’s touch on that. It’s embarrassing to send out a press release when the company can’t even spell the simple word “pants” correctly. I can only assume they hired a kindergartner that wrote this in the dark, typed it on an Etch A Sketch and was possibly drunk. That, or Chris Ward wrote it himself. Unfortunately for Raging Stallion their grammar is the least of their problems.
Once again, the incredible bitterness of certain posters here takes me by surprise, but it shouldn’t. Don’t you see how rancid you sound? The same thing happens on the Atkol forums. I just don’t get it. It really seems as if there are personal beefs here they are too embarrassed to admit.
Speaking of the ATKOL forum, Chris Ward just posted this there:
(Posted 2/21/2009 12:20:00 AM)
Hey Guys–
As you will see in the coming months, no one’s business is facing a demise. RSS is one of the only porn studios making money. That is precisely why the merger happened. This was not a defensive action–this is successful companies coming together to create an even more powerful organization. As they say on Bravo, watch what happens!!!
I am not going to get into a tit for tat childish blog fight with these people. I do, however, promise to remind everyone in about six months what they were posting about this merger.
Next week I will be announcing a brand new line up of new exclusive models AND announcing our shoot for another $200,000 blockbuster production that will begin filming in June, 2009.
RSS is clearly the top studio in the industry today and I intend to keep it that way.
Chris Ward
If RS produces another $200,000 movie, it will obviously be with AEBN money. As far as NakedSword goes they are not in the financial position to gloat. Whoever the idiot is that decided that now was a good time to officially release this news should immediately be shown the door. With an awards show that AEBN is producing why-oh-why would they choose to formally make this announcement a month before the awards show? This industry is unforgiving, bitter, and will show its displeasure in the nastiness of ways. I am already hearing that the following are NOT attending the awards show: Chi Chi LaRue/Channel 1; Keith Webb/Titan; John Rutherford/Colt; Michael Lucas/Lucas Entertainment. Who’s going to drop out next? I expect the timing of this news was not well thought out plus the buffoonery of NakedSword and the weak presence of Gayvn will make this show a disaster.
I think this just shows how desperate these businesses are in the current economy. From Ward’s obvious sugar coating to Lucas’ distaste in return, all this is unfocused chaos.
Raging Stallion has never been my cup of tea, nor has Nakedsword’s funky designed and badly run VOD site, they belong together. Who cares? Like a previous poster writes, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”. That says it all.
Chris’ posting on the Atkol Forums provides so much information… if you know Chris and can read between the lines. Let’s translate:
no one’s business is facing a demise. RSS is one of the only porn studios making money. Well, which is it? There are several studios teetering on bankruptcy, and the one fact we have confirmed in spades is that RS is the first to fall. There is another San Francisco studio being shopped around for a similar merger (and no, just like when I heard about RS/AEBN late last year, I won’t name names). If RSS was making money, why would they agree to “merge” with AEBN? Why would AEBN, a company that has annual sales of approximately $250 MILLION, be interested in a studio that does between $1 and $1.5 million per year, but which also spends every penny, and obviously more, to stay in business? So, you have one corporation that dwarfs another, in which the larger loaned the lesser a substantial amount of money for a project in which the lesser has publicly acknowledged (http://www.gayporntimes.com/hardnews/2009/01/15/raging-stallion-lucas-entertainment-launch-publicity-war/#comments) has not made a profit, and we’re told by the loan recipient that his business is so profitable it was gobbled up by his bank. Really.
I am not going to get into a tit for tat childish blog fight with these people. Clearly, his new handlers at AEBN have laid down the law and told Chris to keep his mouth shut. As I said earlier to AEBN, good luck with that. Chris’ propensity to start and perpetuate ongoing public arguments is legendary in the business. He just can’t help himself. To whit, he pledges “I do, however, promise to remind everyone in about six months…”
I will be announcing a brand new line up of new exclusive models AND announcing our shoot for another $200,000 blockbuster production Well, he’s already announced the latter, a “film noir” production to be shot in San Francisco. Appropriate for Chris; the allusion to The Maltese Falcon means that Chris will cast himself in the Sidney Greenstreet character, the fat man. You can rest assured, however, that the new exclusive line up will look much like the old line up, doing the same things in a different setting. But, if that’s how AEBN wants to spend their money, that’s their choice. I expect the budget will be pared back somewhat with a nod to the current economy in excuse.
The question is obviously if these big-budget films do so well, why is RS alone in making them? What say you, Titan, Hot House, Channel 1 and Colt? Certainly, these competitors along with the newly-minted online brethren have the same wherewithal to produce such “blockbusters” and yet no one has, nor announced such plans.
Which belies Chris’ final claim, that “RSS is clearly the top studio in the industry today…” of course, now wholly owned and supported by the (straight) porn industry’s largest distributor. Moreover, in the original XBiz story, Tim Valenti was quoted talking about the economy beyond the simple statement “…while the economy rebounds” which has since been scrubbed from the site, owing to the desire of both parties to attempt to stress that the “merger” was done not for the obvious reasons we’re discussing here, but because “this is successful companies coming together to create an even more powerful organization” according to Chris. We all understand that image is everything, and RS wants to save face as much as AEBN.
Nevertheless, one plus one still equals two.
Hey Mr. Ward you are missing the point that the entire industry is getting at. It is not a big deal to produce a movie when you are borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars from another company… and then not being able to honor your debt. Do you Mr. Ward think that Chi Chi LaRue, John Rutherford, Michael Lucas, Steven Scarborough, Bruce Cam or any other top director will not produce a better blockbuster than you? These directors are real business people and they don’t sacrifice their company and the salaries of their employees to a vanity project. A quote from you Mr.Ward, “RSS is clearly the top studio in the industry today and I intend to keep it that way”. You were bailed out of debt by your collector. Be a man and admit that and salvage any respect you might still be barely holding on to.
Why is it that Hollywood allows their greatest directors to have many, many money losing films without then turning on them with accusations of everything but eating babies for breakfast? Could it be, for gods sake, that even the mainstream studios are more mature and respectful than the tragic commenters on this site? Me think yes. Me find that depressing. Me going to go watch Apocalypse Now now.
Well, there’s nothing like a real “claws coming blog discussion thread” to make my Saturday night entertaining.
You know guys….. despite whatever *really happened*, Raging Stallion is just a long line of quality film studios that have changed ownership. Overall, it’s just business.
This happened to MGM Studios and RKO Pictures. So if it could happen to RKO, then why not Raging Stallion!
…whatever happened to Fay Wray???
-Steve
Another post from Chris Ward on ATKOL (hope he doesn’t mind me reposting them here), responding to a post by TheBeast saying RSS was in debt:
(Posted 2/22/2009 12:26:00 AM)
Hey Beast–
Just as an FYI, Raging Stallion has always been a totally debt-free company and has never borrowed money from anyone. We are one of the only companies in the industry that is still turning significant profits during tough economic times. To The Last Man, our current hit film, is very, very profitable, as have been all of our other major films. Our success is the reason the merger took place–strong companies joining forces. We also have just purchased our building in downtown San Francisco (closed three months ago, well before the merger) as part of our plan to diversify investments and take advantage of lower real estate prices–hardly the actions of a company in financial trouble.
As you will see in the coming months and years, all of this talk of RSS being in financial trouble will be shown to be the misinformed speculation of people who do not know what they are talking about.
Bottom line, however, is that RSS has never been in debt and in 2008 and early 2009 paid huge dividends to its shareholders, all of whom have made and continue to make great incomes from the studio.
Chris Ward
Well of course the future looks bright for Raging Stallion… it’s a wholly owned subsidiary of the industry’s largest distributor! Chris, that’s not the point. The point is that you’re treating the fact that you lost your studio like a plot from one of your movies, that you can alter or spin to whatever your liking. You are the little boy who cried wolf. We don’t know all of the details, but what is known, combined with taking your claims with a grain of salt, paints a pretty clear picture.
As to the compairisons with mainstream studios, here, perhaps, is a quote I think you’ll find quite illuminating: In the words of scholar Richard B. Jewell, “The supreme irony of RKO’s existence is that the studio earned a position of lasting importance in cinema history largely because of its extraordinarily unstable history. Since it was the weakling of Hollywood’s ‘majors,’ RKO welcomed a diverse group of individualistic creators and provided them…with an extraordinary degree of freedom to express their artistic idiosyncrasies…. [I]t never became predictable and it never became a factory.” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RKO)
The only thing missing from the ‘logo’ created for this story is the Gayvn Awards logo. We are bowing out of the awards for this year. Good luck Raging Stallion – not that you’ll need it.
“We also have just purchased our building in downtown San Francisco (closed three months ago, well before the merger)”
Hmmm…that’s funny because I just checked and the building at 1155 Mission hasn’t been sold or traded hands since 1997.
Just another lie in the fantasy world of Chris Ward. Does he not think we can check and see if in fact he bought the building? If he would lie about this, then what else did he lie about?
“Raging Stallion has always been a totally debt-free company and has never borrowed money from anyone”
Everyone in the industry knows RSS has been taking interest free “production loans” from AEBN since last year. (Just like Falcon has been)Chris may be calling it something else to try and make himself feel better, but its still debt no matter what you call it.
“RSS has never been in debt and in 2008 and early 2009 paid huge dividends to its shareholders, all of whom have made and continue to make great incomes from the studio.”
Why don’t we ask Michael Brandon about that? How much Did Michael get paid last year when he was tossed out on his ass and replaced by Tony DeMarco? Then why is “RSS partner” Kent Taylor’s live-in boyfriend Antonio Biaggi having to prostitute himself on Rentboy last month?
“I will be…announcing our shoot for another $200,000 blockbuster production”
The film Noir production is being shot IN San Francisco, there is no way in hell you would need $200,000 to film it! Unless the cast is 50+ models or they are filming green screen at Pixar Studios, they could not spend $200,000 on a SF based production.
Lie after lie, after lie……
It is exactly lie after lie… after lie. Respect is something Chris Ward needs to employ. It is overwhelmingly disrespectful to flat out lie to everyone in the industry and he is a chronic story teller; as in when Ward claimed it cost $200K to produce To The Last Man. Has anyone seen this film and would like to point out what was so expensive? Did RSS have to cut a check to mother nature for using her scenery? NO. Did they spend it on a script writer? NO. Did they have rich, lavish costumes and special effects? NO. They probably payed 5k to rent a ranch and then perpetuated their massive budget lie. For directors, producers, critics and every person in this industry we can not be fooled by Chris Ward’s silly claims. We know what it cost to pioneer such a film like that … and it’s not anywhere near $200k. Have some dignity and use some respect Mr. Ward.
It’s really fascinating to watch so many people come out of the woodwork and reveal all sorts of details, but I have to wonder what the hell Chris Ward or anybody at Raging Stallion did to some of you people?? What the hell is with all the dissing? Agreed with Jesus Mary a few posts back, this is no different than what happens in Hollywood.
what they did to me? BAD BAD porn. I almost had a look at them all and while they do have very HOT models it’s the way they direct their movies : violence, violence, violence…never ever do i see their men kiss with passion and sensuality and certainly not onger than three seconds because it’s too ‘sissy’ in their views. Do i mind some soft kinky and hard sex in a while of course not…but not in a tsunami way. Not everything they did was trash there were some hot scenes in the past : keepers in my pornotecia are Bedrock, bang that ass, Pumping Iron and the big island but these successes have more to do with their hot models than the company i guess….End of my crusade
Actually, no matter how much money RSS spends on their big epic movie, the movie is embarrassingly bad. To claim that it cost $200,000, and that’s all they could produce, it’s twice as embarrassing. Their press release gave so many expectations, yet the movie didn’t live up to one of them. The storyline basically didn’t exist. It was several bearded, tattooed guys killing each other because of a water shortage. It was violence for the sake of violence. Blood does not look sexy, whether it’s fake blood or real blood. The whole movie looked like a bad comedy. Some dialogues seemed like it was written by an illiterate from Iowa. The movie is just another sex film and nothing more than that.
Ho Hum… This topic is getting old. Who truly cares about Raging Stallion and it’s buyout by AEBN anyway. I never bought or viewed their movies anyway!