At the time, SkyMall had over 80 percent market share of the catalog space in the seat-back pocket of most major domestic airlines. In addition, they had strong relationships with some of the best-known catalog brands across the country. The company believed that as a result of over 500 million passenger emplanements, their catalog could ultimately drive significant internet revenue traffic to their website, skymall.com. The website was a growing merchandise distribution channel for the Company and an early leader in the business to consumer category of the Internet space.

By the end of 1999, SkyMall needed capital to expand their growing online channel, SkyMall.com. Their investment-banking firm was having difficultly raising the funds. The consumer Internet stocks had begun to sell-off, and SkyMall needed to resolve its balance sheet issues quickly. To survive the Internet bubble, SkyMall needed to find, in addition to capital, a well-financed, strategic partner that could leverage SkyMall’s existing relationships with the country’s top retailers and catalogers.

The Genesis Approach
In December of 1999, Genesis Select was retained by SkyMall to assist in identifying potential investors for a direct investment with the company. Meanwhile, an executive search was begun for a new president and CEO. Genesis Select believed that for SkyMall to survive the Internet bubble, they would need outside help. As a result, Genesis Select was given the task of identifying a leading investment banking firm to find a well-capitalized strategic partner that could leverage SkyMall’s various channels of distribution, and either purchase or recapitalize the company. Ultimately, the goal was to increase of shareholder value to all SkyMall shareholders.

The Genesis Effect
In 15 months, Genesis Select had successfully met the goal they had outlined for SkyMall. Nearly $30 million was raised in two rounds of financing: one in December of 1999, and the second in June of 2000. Both capital raises were completed in less than two weeks. As a result, the institutional shareholder base increased from 20 percent to over 75 percent of shareholders. Genesis Select also identified and helped recruit a new President and CEO. The candidate was a well-established operator in retail merchandising, and was also well known with institutional investors. With the critical pieces now in place, Genesis Select introduced SkyMall to Robertson Stephens, who was retained by SkyMall as their investment banker. This relationship led to the purchase of SkyMall by Gemstar –TV Guide in March of 2001 at an attractive valuation in deteriorating market conditions for Internet stocks