| Jason W. Galanis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1970 New York, NY |
| Occupation | Financier |
| Employer | Self |
Jason Woodruff Galanis
Jason Woodruff Galanis is an American financier focused on structured finance in distressed debt and venture capital investments
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Galanis has principally invested across two primary asset classes - financial services and intellectual property (patents; trademarks; brands; content).
Galanis co-founded The Credit Store, a consumer advocacy and credit card issuer funded by Cargill and minority owned by Electronic Data Systems (now owned by HP). He led the refinancing of the $200 million Cargill credit facility with Morgans Waterfall Vintiadis & Co., a $2 billion hedge fund that Cargill introduced to The Credit Store to provide funding to buy out Cargill.
He and his partner sold in a $152 million transaction The Credit Store, together with the trademarks and the patent-pending financial algorithm Galanis invented, to an investment group advised by Wasserstein Perella and financed by GE Capital and Chaired by the former President of HSBC USA. After the sale of The Credit Store in October 1996, Galanis temporarily retired and moved to London, England.
Galanis had also acquired another credit card company called Service One International of Sioux Falls, South Dakota in a leveraged buy out. Service One is regarded as the pioneers in credit card products to credit impaired Americans and at one time was the largest issuer of credit cards in the United States to this demographic.
Galanis financed the acquisition of a third credit card company called Internet Billing Company in 2004, previously acquired in 2002 by NASDAQ-listed Intercept Corp for $112 million in cash. iBill was the largest credit card processor of online transactions in the United States. iBill focused on processing transactions for online subscriptions and memberships, which consisted predominately access to adult themed content. The company was acquired for $34 million and resold for $54 million less than a year later.
He is known for providing financing to Robert Guccione’s General Media, the owner of the PENTHOUSE trademarks and publisher of Penthouse Magazine. He provided financing prior to the bankruptcy reorganization and as part of the bankruptcy exit plan. The permanent financing was led by Post Advisory Group, a Principal Financial Group (NYSE: PFG) subsidiary that manages approximately $9 billion in various credit strategies.
Penthouse Media Group, now known as FriendFinder Networks, is one of the largest social media companies in the world with 38,000 websites, more than 445 million registrants and more than 298 million members in more than 200 countries and $345 million in revenues in 2010. It is controlled by financier and technology entrepreneur, Marc Bell. FriendFinder completed an IPO on NASDAQ in May 2011.
Galanis also completed the 2004 acquisition of the 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m2) Guccione Mansion in New York City, one of the largest residences in Manhattan. In March 2008, hedge fund manager Phil Falcone, founder of Harbinger Capital, acquired the Guccione Mansion for $49 million.
Galanis has made other investments in various technology companies, including Themeware. Themeware was a software application provider to small businesses. Themeware marketed heavily on television and sold ecommerce software and credit card processing services to small businesses. Themeware was chaired by Gil Amelio, the former CEO of National Semiconductor and CEO of Apple Computer.
He is the principal of IP Global Investors Ltd, an investment company that invests in intellectual property. Among its investments, IP Global is the largest investor in Fund.com, an owner of a two fund management businesses that manage over $1.4 billion in assets.
He was CEO of Gerova Advisors LLC until April 2011.[1]
Galanis was born July 1970 at New York Hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He attended all-male prep school Brunswick School in Greenwich, majored in history at UC Santa Barbara and studied at Templeton College, Oxford University. He lives in New York and Los Angeles.
Jason Galanis is the son of John Peter Galanis. John Peter Galanis was indicted for tax fraud in 1987 when Jason Galanis was sixteen years old attending his junior year in high school. John Galanis was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison. John Galanis was released 12 years early after serving 15 years. He is 68 years old.
Penthouse, Bob Guccione (its Chairman and CEO), Charles Samel (its director and Executive Vice President), and Galanis, a shareholder, were sued by the SEC in a civil case for allegedly overstating revenue of Penthouse by $1.0 million in the first quarter of 2003, representing a fraction of the total revenue of the company. The $1.0 million in question was non-refundable payment made by Galanis to Penthouse in consideration for trademark licensing rights granted to Galanis. After 18 months of investigation, in January 2005 the SEC sued alleging the $1.0 million payment made in January 2003 should not have been recognized as revenue in the first quarter and instead should have been recognized over the five-year life of the licensing agreement (not recognized upfront when paid). As a result, the SEC contended that Penthouse and its officers improperly recognized the full payment by increasing its revenue by $1.0 million. Galanis and the SEC agreed to settle the lawsuit without Galanis admitting or denying the claims. He paid a $60,000 fine and agreed to not serve as an officer or director of a public company for five years. Galanis had never served as an officer or director of Penthouse and was not responsible for the accounting functions of Penthouse.
Several months after the $1.0 million payment by Galanis to Penthouse, Penthouse filed for bankruptcy protection from its senior lenders, Cerberus Capital Management and New York Life Insurance Company.