Daily Planet (brothel)

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Daily Planet is a licensed brothel in Melbourne, Australia. It entered the news in 2003 when it became one of the first brothels listed on a stock exchange. The brothel has won the Australian Adult Industry Award for "Best Brothel Overall" in the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.^[1]

Daily Planet was founded in 1975 by John Trimble, who remains the owner. The 18-room brothel is located at 9 Horne Street, Elsternwick, a southern suburb of Melbourne (37°53′5″S, 144°59′58″ECoordinates: 37°53′5″S, 144°59′58″E). Andrew Harris, who served as the company's CEO from 2002 until 2006, stated in 2002 that the operation generated annual profits of about AUS$ 2 million.^[2] As of 2006, the brothel charged AUS$ 90 for a room for half an hour, with the woman charging another $90.

In 2003 the brothel's operation was separated from its real estate holdings, and the real estate property trust, named Daily Planet Ltd., proceeded with an initial public offering. The stock is traded on the Australian Stock Exchange. Heidi Fleiss had been hired to generate publicity.^[3] The company acquired strip club businesses in 2003.^[4]

In 2004 the company resolved to sell the Daily Planet property for about AUS $5.7 million. The reason given was that the Business Licensing Authority would scare aware investors, with the power of treating them as associates to a brothel. The company changed its name to Planet Platinum and went on to pursue its investments in strip clubs.^[5]^[6] However, the sale of the Daily Planet real estate never happened and the property was taken off the market in 2006.^[7]

The share price of the company had initially soared to about four times the price at IPO, but as of early 2007 it had fallen back to about one quarter of the price at IPO.