Welcome to another story and another video in my One Company One Story series.
This time, Gaia (previously known as Gaiam).

Here comes the amateur legalese.

I began investing in companies and their stocks in the late 70s, but am not a certified investment professional.

My style and history of investing is described in Dream. Invest. Live., a book I wrote by request – which came out as the Great Recession (the Second Great Depression) began. Bad timing, eh? https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0035XVXAA

I am not investment professional. This is not financial advice. 

This time it is about Gaia, a company that is also known as Gaiam. The company portrays itself as “a member-supported media network of truth seekers and believers empowering an evolution of consciousness”. Wikipedia says it is “an American alternative media video streaming service and online community focusing on fringe-science and yoga”. Some see fringe as far out there, and the wrong place to be. Others see fringe and think that’s the place to look for the changes that need to be made. And, of course, some will see a business opportunity regardless of their philosophy.

Disclosure: I owned stock in GAIA about a decade ago. See that history at the link: https://trimbathcreative.net/?s=gaia).

Gaia is simple, yet with all-encompassing goals: health, mindful-living, etc. Their products are media. They don’t deliver health and lifestyles, but they deliver the media that hopefully helps their customers. As their web site puts it, “over 8,000 ad-free, streaming titles that challenge modern paradigms and allow you to manifest the reality that defines your being.”

Basically a simple media company that delivers messages to customers. I sold in 2011 because they pivoted to that strategy. My initial interest was in Real Goods Trading Company, a company that sold alternative energy and lifestyle products to people who wanted to live off-the-grid either by necessity or by choice. Solar was a big component of their business. They were in the right place and ahead of the crowd, but possibly too early. I wanted to be invested in solar power. The two companies merged, for a while. Then they weren’t. Gaia wanted to sell yoga mats and videos, and they were there as those sectors got busy.

Were we both right? Real Goods is gone, at least as a publicly-traded company. Coincidentally, I needed a yoga mat and bought one from Gaiam.

Let’s look at the stock. Back when I sold it, circa 2011, GAIA was trading between $5 and $10. It spiked up to over $20, recently fell back to almost $2, and closed today (January 25, 2023) at $3.51. Timing matters. 

Optimists can point to trends like yoga and an evolution of consciousness.

Pessimists can point to ‘fringe science’ and whether it will be too fringe.

I watch GAIA because there is a demand and a need for many people to find alternatives to their conventional lives. 

I wonder if Gaia will mimic Real Goods, right product and maybe the right time, almost. Real Goods is still in business, but it isn’t traded publicly. Staying tuned.

The video: