On the brink: Playboy seeks a suitor
Filed under: Company News, People
Playboy Enterprises Inc. (PLA) is every adolescent boy's fantasy -- and every shareholder's nightmare. Shares of Hugh Hefner's media empire have plunged more than 66% over the past three years, as revenue from the company's flagship magazine plunged faster than its other properties, including digital media, could make up for it. Even the 2006 purchase of a multimedia empire founded by Jenna Jameson -- arguably the best-known porn star ever -- did not do much good.
Little wonder that the Chicago-based media company is being shopped around. Eccentric British billionaire Richard Branson was the latest rumored potential sugar daddy for Playboy Enterprises, according to a report in Britain's Daily Mail. Branson, who may have planted the story to begin with, later issued a statement denying any interest in Playboy. (This is the same guy recently photographed kite-surfing with a naked model on his back, so the confusion is understandable.)
Maybe Playboy is playing games. The company's interim CEO, Jerome Kern, who replaced Hefner's daughter, Christie at the top, said in February that the company would be "willing to listen" to suggestions about selling or changing the magazine. Shareholders are probably screaming that change needs to come. Investors are now excited about the possibility that Freedom Communications's Scott Flanders might be offered the top job.
But is the excitement justified? The company's latest quarterly results were pitiful as usual, showing a net loss of $13.7 million, or 41 cents a share, compared with a loss $8.7 million, or 26 cents a share, the previous year. Playboy magazine revenues were down 16%, to
Playboy's problems are well-known: the explosion of free online adult content, the shift of advertising online, and the huge numbers of magazines targeting the young male audience, a category Hefner pioneered more than 50 years ago. But what may be killing Playboy faster than anything else is Hefner's libidinous lifestyle in the Playboy Mansion, which the company owns. These days, the 83-year-old, silk-pajama-clad swinger must feel like a prisoner of the brand he created: an aging King Lear, surrounded by a silicon-enhanced harem.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-01-2009 @ 3:03PM
Tim said...
I can understand why Playboy is on its way out. Alot of my friends and I all had subscriptions to Playboy (many for over 20 years). We were all so insulted by the leftist/socialist leaning of all the articles that intensified when Bush was running for his second term that we all cancelled our subscriptions. Playboy never understood that people can be socially liberal and fiscally/constitutionally conservative.
I imagine that the same thing happened this last election, but I can't be sure as I have not looked at a Playboy since 2004.
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6-01-2009 @ 7:38PM
TIM said...
I love Playboy and i am a Replican through and through. I like it when they put the Party cartoons in Playboy they are funny that is what the worlds best medicine is comedy. It shouldn't offend anyone who has a sense of humor.
6-01-2009 @ 4:17PM
CJ MANNING said...
I think the company is shooting itself in the foot by putting more content on the internet. Soon they won't even have the magazine in stores anymore I'll bet. I believe a lot of revenue came from people purchasing the magazine subscriptions as well as buying them off the stands. Also, they need to cut out all the endless articles, and keep more to the pictorials and info on the girls!!!
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6-01-2009 @ 5:58PM
Patrick said...
I LOVE PLAYBOY. I SAY THIS. INTERVIEW FASCINATING FOLKS, KEEPING INTERVIEWS LONG,IF INTERESTING. LET THE GILS HAVE BUSH. IVE ALWAYS GONE NUTS FOR STUNNING BABES WHO ARE VOLUPTUOUS AND HAVE A BEAUTIFUL BUSH AND SMILE. AND PUBLISH MORE PICTURES. ILL KEEP BUYING,I SWEAR. LOVE TO HEF...AND THE PLAYBOY FAMILY!...PATRICK...
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6-01-2009 @ 6:34PM
bill said...
Playboy's women have been out of touch since the 70's. The airbrushed, synthetic looking inflatable bimbos aren't mainstream or attractive anymore than say Pam Anderson (Uggggh). What kept circulation up was occasional nude pictorals on stars, athletes and so forth. Price went out of control years ago. RIP
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6-02-2009 @ 10:45AM
Margie said...
To suggest that Mr. Hefner's private lifestyle is what is "killing" Playboy is ridiculous. I highly doubt he is anything less than thrilled living the life he does. And only one of the three girlfriends are "enhanced" :)
In all seriousness, I hope it isn't beyond repair, but I'm afraid it is. I don't think the new CEO or anything/anyone else has a magic cure.
It was damn good while it lasted.
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6-03-2009 @ 9:53PM
ed baggett said...
Oh my how things change. I guess Playboy has run the course.....nobody wants it any more..........
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6-03-2009 @ 9:58PM
Sharon said...
Hugh Hefner's 83-year old face looks silicon-enhanced.
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6-03-2009 @ 10:02PM
twogolfcats said...
Hugh Hefner and Playboy did nothing but EXPLOIT women- Made them 3rd class whores and sex slaves- How can anyone praise this OLD PIMP who has toyed with young women all his degenerate life-style???? He has catered to young men for ages, those with "BRAINS" in their shorts- He has denegrated relationships and REAL LOVE with LOW-LIFE, life-styke.
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6-03-2009 @ 11:35PM
SouthernMan said...
Mr. Hefner please contact me by replying to this comment. Playboy magazine can be saved if you truly want it to be.
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6-05-2009 @ 11:17AM
Jeff said...
Need to reduce the advertizing . WAY TOO MUCH!!!! You buy it to look at the girls ! If I wanted to look at all those ads, I would buy a newspaper! Am I wrong?
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6-04-2009 @ 4:07PM
Kim said...
As a Lifestyle Club owner, I think Playboy should change it's format that it has had over the years and focus on attracting the Swingers Lifestyle people
The swinging community would thrive with Playboy behind us
It would be a win win for both
Club Europa
N.H.
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6-08-2009 @ 10:54AM
JPM said...
The new CEO they picked is a joke. The guy has no digital media space background whatsoever. They need a young CEO in his 30's with adult entertainment experience spanning through the time periods of 1995 - Present. That is the only person who can restructure Playboy.
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6-16-2009 @ 1:47AM
Andre said...
I used to fetish everything Playboy. Now they are soooo behind the times. Especially the girls. Not bad, but let them be themselfs, natural, without all that artificial make up.
Check "Metart' a russian based site with gorgeous natural looking girls.
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