LGBT LGBTQ plus ESG 100

elizabethW Brand Amasses Popularity Among Celebrities and Upscale Retailers SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PlanetOut Inc. (NASDAQ:LGBT) today named Albert Nichols and Michael Lindsay, founders of San Francisco-based perfumery elizabethW, winners of the second annual PlanetOut Inc. Entrepreneur of the Year award, sponsored by Cadillac. The 2005 PlanetOut Inc. Entrepreneur of the Year award honors dynamic lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) business leaders, whose character combines the spirit of entrepreneurship with a drive to enrich the lives of those around them. Nichols and Lindsay will receive $10,000 and a commemorative prize to be presented at the 2005 Out & Equal National Workplace Summit, Sept. 22-24 in Denver. Information about the winners and other contest finalists can be found on Gay.com and PlanetOut.com. elizabethW, named after Nichols' grandmother, has expanded beyond its beginnings as a traditional perfumery to include original fragrance collections for bath, body and home. Popular among celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres, elizabethW products can be found on the shelves of retailers such as Bloomingdales and Saks Fifth Avenue, at luxury hotels around the world, and at http://www.elizabethw.com/. The finalists also included Scott Pomfret and Scott Whittier of Romentics, Boston; Dan Neumann of Neumann Capital, San Mateo, Calif.; Jay Miller of Imagehaus, Minneapolis; and Vickie Clairborne of Tung Gear, Austin, Texas. A prestigious panel of independent judges selected the winners: Jerry Colonna, PlanetOut Inc. board member and Cripplebush consultant; Selisse Berry, executive director, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates; Justin Nelson, co-founder, National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce; Mark Elderkin, president, PlanetOut Inc.; and Kevin Luedtke, communications officer for GM PLUS, the LGBT employee affinity group for General Motors. The judging criteria included increased profit and employee numbers, as well as factors such as degree of innovation, development of creative and ingenious production, marketing and selling techniques and extent of expansion into national and international markets. "elizabethW is a tenacious company, and I'm always impressed by the 'little guys,' who can set up shop in a tough, high-cost location like San Francisco, and then outmaneuver the bigger dogs through innovation, lavish customer service and guts," said Luedtke. "GM PLUS is proud that our Cadillac division is the Presenting Sponsor for the PlanetOut Inc. Entrepreneur of the Year award. Cadillac is aiming its sights on being the standard of the world in the automotive industry, and as a result of their focus, they are also pleased to sponsor the search for the people who are already setting the standard in their field." The leader of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates also praised the dynamic business duo. "Albert and Michael have managed to take their dream and make it a nationally recognized sensation," said Berry, whose organization champions safe and equal workplaces for LGBT people. "Leveraging their successes to support local and national LGBT organizations, these entrepreneurs show their clients, their suppliers and all Americans that one doesn't have to remain in the closet to thrive in the workplace." Information about the next edition of the PlanetOut Inc. Entrepreneur of the Year contest will be available in Spring 2006. For more information about this year's contest winners and finalists, please visit: Gay.com: http://www.gay.com/business/entrepreneur PlanetOut.com: http://www.planetout.com/money/entrepreneur About PlanetOut Inc. PlanetOut Inc. is a leading global online media company offering consumer services, news and entertainment to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The company serves the worldwide LGBT audience through a comprehensive group of branded businesses featuring diverse chat, news, entertainment, travel, dating, personal finance, career, shopping and community services at Gay.com, PlanetOut.com, Kleptomaniac.com and OUT&ABOUT Travel. PlanetOut, based in San Francisco, offers FORTUNE 1000 advertisers access to what it believes to be the most extensive network of gay and lesbian people in the world. Gay.com consistently ranks in the top five, among all Web sites measured, for average time spent at home online per visitor in the U.S., according to Nielsen//NetRatings' Loyalty Stickiness Report. For more information, please visit http://www.planetoutinc.com/. DATASOURCE: PlanetOut Inc. CONTACT: James David of PlanetOut Inc., +1-415-834-6479, or mobile, +1-415-845-2063, or Web site: http://www.planetoutinc.com/

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