Gaia, Inc.

Last updated
Gaia, Inc.
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  GAIA (Class A)
Russell 2000 Component
IndustryVideo production
Founded1988;36 years ago (1988)
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.
FounderJirka Rysavy
Headquarters
Louisville, Colorado
,
U.S.
Key people
  • James Colquhoun (CEO)
  • Ned Preston (CFO)
  • Kiersten Medvedich (President)
[1]
Website www.gaia.com
Footnotes /references
[2]

Gaia, Inc. is an American media company founded in 1988 by Jirka Rysavy in Louisville, Colorado. It owns and operates Gaia TV, an over-the-top subscription video on-demand service consisting of original and licensed alternative media documentaries. While the content on Gaia TV initially focused on yoga, mindfulness, and alternative medicine to complement the company's yoga equipment distribution business, the latter's divestiture led to a greater emphasis on content promoting conspiracy theories and pseudoscience. [3] The service has been criticized and deplatformed from social media platforms including Facebook and YouTube for hosting videos promoting vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories such as the Illuminati, UFOs, and Atlantis. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

As of September 13,2018, Gaia TV had over 500,000 subscribers in 185 countries. [7] As of 2024, they had 806,000 subscribers. [8]

History

Gaia was founded in 1988 by Czechoslovakian-born entrepreneur Jirka Rysavy. [9] Originally branding itself as a yoga equipment brand, Gaia sold mail-order exercise videos and alternative medicine products. [10]

Gaia began several acquisition and merging endeavors in the early 2000s. In 2001, Gaia merged with the Californian company Real Goods Solar, a residential and commercial solar power integrator with a focus on off-the-grid living. [11] Gaia continued expansion and in 2003 bought a 50.1% share in its UK distributor Leisure Systems International (LSI). [12] In 2005, Gaia acquired the media assets of GoodTimes Entertainment and Jetlag Productions. [13] The company additionally acquired both Lime TV [14] and Zaadz.com [15] in 2007 to start what was called the LOHAS network (LOHAS stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). [15] In 2008, Rysavy stepped down as CEO.

In 2011, Gaia launched Gaia TV, a streaming service for videos on yoga, meditation, and fringe science. [16] The company acquired Vivendi Entertainment, a DVD distributor from Vivendi subsidiary Universal Music Group Distribution, merging it with its home entertainment division to form Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment. [17] [18]

In 2016, Sequential Brands Group purchased the Gaiam brand and yoga equipment unit for $167 million. Gaia subsequently rebranded itself, focusing solely on its alternative media streaming service. Over the next three years, the service would increase in popularity. In 2019, USA Today ranked Gaia, Inc as the world's fastest-growing retailer, [19] spending up to 120% of its revenue on advertising. [20] Gaia also sold its travel business for $12 million. [21]

Gaia added live streaming events from a new event center at its Louisville, Colorado campus in 2019. [22] [23] [24] Events are live streamed in 185 countries with simultaneous translation. [25]

In November 2021, American singer and actor Demi Lovato became the first celebrity ambassador for Gaia. Lovato announced via Instagram that they were partnering with Gaia, stating, "Thrilled to be a Gaia ambassador, understanding the world around us (the known and the unknown) is so exciting to me!" [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]

Gaia acquired the digital video service Yoga International in December 2021. [31]

In 2023, Gaia appointed James Colquhoun to the new position of Chief Operating Officer. During this time Gaia also announced an AI-powered search engine for their content library. [32] In March 2024, Gaia launched Gaia+, a premium membership providing access to workshops, live events, and guided programs. [33] [34]

Programming

Gaia's content library encompasses over 8,000 films on a variety of alternative media subjects, ranging from yoga and meditation to alternative medicine and conspiracy theories. [35] Many of its documentaries endorse pseudoscience such as divination, metaphysics, astrology, pseudoarchaeology, alchemy, and mysticism. [36] [37] [38] Its coverage of alternative medicine includes videos on energy healing, naturopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, ayurveda, and time travel. While some of these discuss nutrition in the context of mainstream principles such as balanced diets, many also make disputed claims on subjects such as detoxification, superfoods, and the Paleolithic diet. Several such videos were the result of a controversial partnership with Mayo Clinic. [39]

Controversy

In 2018, conspiracy theorist David Wilcock left Gaia. After his departure, his resignation letter was brought to public attention, supposedly claiming Gaia was spreading "Lucifer propaganda." These accusations generated a substantial amount of hate mail and death threats toward employees at Gaia. Wilcock eventually apologized to Gaia, and stated in his apology letter that his words were taken out of context and were meant to remain internal. [40] [41]

That same year, Patty Greer, a filmmaker formerly contracted by Gaia, accused the company of "promoting Luciferianism and using directed-energy weapons against critics." [42] [43] [44] [45] Greer claims she was attacked with a "directed energy weapon" in the Phoenix, Arizona airport in 2017. [35] In addition, Greer alleged her films were intentionally removed from the Gaia website. She stated that her refusal to sign a non-disclosure agreement involved in regaining distribution rights to her films ultimately led to her content being intentionally removed from the site. [35]

In February 2021, Business Insider published an investigative piece detailing workplace harassment and concerns about the surveillance of Gaia employees by the company. [40] These concerns stemmed from Gaia offering blood tests to employees, as well as unsupported reports that CEO Rysavy had installed 'a machine' on the roof of Gaia headquarters to 'psychically monitor employees.' [40]

Following videos and posts from Greer claiming Gaia was infiltrated by satanists and reptilians, [44] Gaia sued Greer for slander. Gaia claimed that Greer was retaliating after a decline in viewership of her videos hosted on Gaia's streaming services. [35] [41] [44]

On December 14, 2018, the case was dismissed without prejudice, noting that Greer had not been served. On December 27, Gaia filed another lawsuit against Greer, seeking one million in damages. [46] The lawsuit was settled in 2019, and Greer posted an apology to her website as part of a settlement agreement and removed all of the content surrounding Gaia and #GEM. [41] In her apology, Greer stated "many of those postings were critical of Gaia and its employees, and were either based on my own opinion or information I received from various third-parties (sometimes anonymously). Because I was ultimately unable to corroborate or confirm the information — which Gaia believed to be untrue and unfounded, and which Gaia vehemently denied at all times — I agreed to remove the postings."

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References

  1. ↑ "Executive carousel turns at Gaia". Bizwest. 29 June 2023.
  2. ↑ "Management Team". Gaia. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  3. ↑ Murphy, Duane Paul (2018-09-25). "The Gaia Deception: Digital New Age Nonsense". TheHumanist.com. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  4. ↑ "Demi Lovato's Fans Voice Outrage After Singer Joins Controversial Conspiracy Site Gaia". ELLE. 2021-11-17. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  5. ↑ "Demi Lovato Signs On As "Ambassador" For Conspiracy Theory Website". Stereogum. 2021-11-09. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  6. ↑ Cooper, Helene; Blumenthal, Ralph; Kean, Leslie (2017-12-16). "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. Program". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-10-03.
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  9. ↑ 'Gaiam Third Child of Entrepreneur Rysavy,' Boulder County Business Report, November 1, 1998, p. 1.
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  15. 1 2 Zaadz: Green Living Social Network Acquired" Archived 2013-01-26 at the Wayback Machine . Mashable. 6-6-2007. Retrieved 12-20-2012
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  17. ↑ Gaiam Completes Acquisition of Vivendi Entertainment Creating Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment, the Nation's Largest Independent Content Distributor - MarketWatch Archived 2012-05-05 at the Wayback Machine
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  32. ↑ Franks, Nico. "Streamer Gaia promotes COO James Colquhoun to CEO role". c21 Media.
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  35. 1 2 3 4 Pampuro, Amanda (2018-08-21). "Gaia Hits Filmmaker Patty Greer With an Old-School Weapon: a Lawsuit". Westword. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
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  40. 1 2 3 Price, Rob. "Gaia was a wildly popular yoga brand. Now it's a publicly traded Netflix rival pushing conspiracy theories while employees fear the CEO is invading their dreams". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  41. 1 2 3 Pampuro, Amanda. "Gaia Settles Million-Dollar Lawsuit Against Filmmaker Patty Greer". Westword. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  42. ↑ Pampuro, Amanda (2018-08-21). "Gaia Hits Filmmaker Patty Greer With an Old-School Weapon: a Lawsuit". Westword. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  43. ↑ "UFO filmmaker who called former client 'Luciferian' sued for defamation". BusinessDen. 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
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