Bill Gates invests in $26m PlanetOut fundraising

SEC Filings reveal that Cascade Investment, the trust set up to invest Bill and Melinda Gates's billions, is among a group of investors that has bought a $26.2m (£13m) stake in PlanetOut, the gay lifestyle and publishing group behind Out magazine and Gay.com.

Lifestyle and networking websites have exploded in the last few years, so it should not come as a surprise to see Mr Gates investing his money in similar ventures.

The San Francisco-based PlanetOut, which provides a range of media and entertainment services to the gay, lesbian and transgender community, has been a public company since October 2004, but it has not performed well.

Its shares listed at $9 and closed on Tuesday at $1.59, 15 per cent better on the back of the new investment.

PlanetOut will rank as one of Mr Gates's riskier investments. Last year, the company reported a $3.7m loss on revenue of $68.6m - a drop in the ocean in comparison to Mr Gates's wealth but a 93 per cent improvement on 2005 revenues. May's first quarter results made dismal reading - year-on-year revenue was lower and first quarter losses were $6.9m.

There has been speculation that PlanetOut has run into trading and cashflow difficulties. Despite a strong position in its niche markets, subscriptions for personal ads have been falling in the face of stiff competition and sales of its gay-themed cruises have been disappointing.

Although Mr Gates made his money in computing, he is thought to have few stakes in internet-based companies. Like his two charitable foundations, Cascade is funded by quarterly sales of Microsoft shares.

He is best known for investing huge sums in biotechnology projects and healthcare, but is also known to have a wide-ranging portfolio, including a handful of decidedly low-tech companies. However, information about his portfolio are hard to come by because Cascade does not disclose details of his investments unless SEC regulations require it to do so.