PlanetOut announced today that its stockholders had approved a reverse stock split designed to shore up the stock's price, which at times this year has hovered as low as $1 per share and below. The company, which trades as LGBT on the Nasdaq exchange, said in a release that shareholders approved the move in an Aug. 29 meeting, and the PlanetOut board set the ratio of the reverse stock split at 1 for 10.

The change is expected to become effective by Oct. 1, when PlanetOut every 10 shares of common stock of PlanetOut will be combined into one share of common stock. The share price will be increased by the same proportion.  As a result, PlanetOut shares will trade above $10 per share, far above the $1 minimum set by the Nasdaq exchange rules. The stock closed today at $1.45 per share, up 9 percent on the day, but the reverse stock split was announced after the exchange had closed for the day.

PlanetOut has endured a difficult and at times volatile year but has shown some momentum since successfully attracting $26.2 million in equity financing, including a substantial investment by an entity controlled by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Before the cash infusion, the company had warned that additional financing was critical to meeting the company's debt obligations.

In an effort to cut costs, PlanetOut announced in July that it was closing its offices in London and Buenos Aires, chopping off 5 percent of the company's workforce. One week before the stockholder meeting, PlanetOut CFO Daniel Miller's resignation was announced, effective Sept. 30. Bob Cohen, publisher of PlanetOut-owned magazine titles Out and the Advocate was also let go last month.

The Advocate is also set to debut a new design, its first redesign in more than a decade, which was previewed to mixed reviews at the National Lesbian & Gay Journalist Association convention in San Diego last weekend.

PlanetOut's digital media brands include Gay.com, PlanetOut.com, Advocate.com, Out.com, OutTraveler.com and HIVPlusMag.com, as well as localized versions of the Gay.com site in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

PlanetOut print media brands, published by LPI, include The Advocate, Out, The Out Traveler and HIVPlus, as well as SpecPub, Inc. titles. SpecPub, which publishes adult titles like Men and Freshmen magazines, has been slated to be sold.

Transaction services brands include e-commerce Web sites Kleptomaniac.com and BuyGay.com, travel and events marketer RSVP Vacations, and book publisher Alyson Publications, among others.