HEARD ON THE BEAT / <i> Buzz from the Business World</i>

Porn Site Profit-Sharing: Silicon Valley start-ups are famous for issuing stock not only to CEOs but to all of their employees. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the owner of an adult Web site says he will give stock to his models when the company goes public.

Maryland entrepreneur Joseph Preston said he plans to file an S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday and will set aside 2 million shares for the women who pose on his site. Each model will receive 500 shares per photo shoot, he said.

Preston, who plans to make public his company’s name today, said he hopes his policies will catch on with other soft-core porn sites and give women a fair share of the industry’s wealth.

“Female models are currently treated as a commodity product--they are discarded once age catches up with them,” Preston said. “My models are stockholders in the company.”

In addition, he said he will set aside 1% of his revenue from subscriptions for a scholarship fund.