Is Playboy selling itself? Company reportedly in talks with Iconix
Filed under: Company News, People, Media
Playboy Enterprises's (PLA) shares soared more than 60% after Bloomberg News reported that the pioneering adult publisher was in talks to sell itself to Iconix Brand Group (ICON), the owner of Candie's and London Fog clothing brands. The news may sit well with investors now, but if it really happens, it could mean the end of Playboy magazine as we know it. News that the Chicago-based company may be seeking a suitor is hardly a shock. Longtime CEO Christie Hefner, the daughter of company founder/icon Hugh Hefner, was forced out after failing to stem losses at the flagship magazine. Bloomberg reports that the board has been looking for a buyer since June, when it hired Freedom Communications CEO Scott Flanders, to replace Christie Hefner. Both Playboy and Iconix declined to comment on reports of a possible sale.
However, something seems amiss about this rumored deal. Iconix, a so-called brand management firm, owns a portfolio of arguably un-sexy clothing labels. Playboy's publishing and television operations don't really seem to fit the mold. Producing high-quality fashion bearing the Playboy logo is a far cry from producing high-quality smut, and I can't help but wonder: Would such a deal mean Iconix will try to sell Playboy's publishing and TV operations? Could it mean the end of Playboy magazine? And what about Hef? Will he stay on as an adviser to the new management or retire to the Playboy Mansion -- which the company owns -- and live out his golden years in hedonistic bliss?
These and many other questions are prompting investors to temper their initial enthusiasm about a possible deal. Shares recently retraced much of their earlier gains, notching a more sober 27% increase, at $3.62. Interestingly enough, Playboy's stock is still cheaper than the magazine's cover price.
No matter how everything plays out, it seems certain that Playboy's decline will be studied by generations of business school students to come. Playboy used to be a formidable force in the publishing world until the Internet and free online pornography arrived. As the competition flooded in, the company failed to differentiate its product. Now, it's struggling to stay afloat.
No Longer a Cultural Force
"Following a second-quarter loss of $9 million and a 15% drop in revenues, the company's listing flagship brand now seems officially desperate for advertisers, for subscribers, for publicity -- for anything," writes my colleague Bruce Watson in a recent post on the company's desperate attempt to boost newsstand sales by putting Marge Simpson on the cover.
But perhaps the saddest part of this business school case study will be the rise and fall of Hugh Hefner. Before he became a Viagra-popping womanizer, Hef was an important cultural force. He published literature -- that's right, people really did read Playboy for the articles -- from the likes of Vladamir Nabokov in the magazine's glory days. Hefner funded the legal defense for friend Lenny Bruce, a comic whose battle against obscenity charges paved the way for the likes of Howard Stern.
Then Hef got complacent. Only in the last 10 years or so has his reputation truly devolved, chasing after women young enough to be his great granddaughters. If only he used that energy to save Playboy instead of filming episodes of "The Girls Next Door," then perhaps his iconic empire would have a better shot at surviving.



























Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
11-12-2009 @ 5:53PM
Tom said...
Playboy is as out-of-date as Hugh Hefner.
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11-13-2009 @ 5:03AM
the truth said...
I can't even remember the last time I bought a nudy mag over the counter. Hefs over stuffed breasts, and undershaved bottoms are out of style. When you get used to the hardcore stuff on the internet, its hard to go back to Playboy.
11-13-2009 @ 9:18AM
jeff said...
Hefner is never out of date(s), haha
11-13-2009 @ 10:50AM
Ronnie said...
I believe you are right. I also believe that now you masturbate from picture's & video's off the internet. You probably thinking why wait every month for your nude's when they are JUST A CLICK AWAY 24/7 Yes sir you a man who loves the World Wide Web & know's what he want's. You can learn a lot about someone's by the words they type :)....Go to it1
11-13-2009 @ 10:10AM
Chuck Simmons said...
Porno has has undermined the backbone of America.
Even your statement of "When you get used to the hardcore stuff on the internet, its hard to go back....."
Ther was a time that you wouldn't have broadcast to the world that you were a porno fiend. Why?? Because there was a moral fiber running through your Soul, that told you it was wrong. Sadly today you will write me off as a non-tolerant bigot, who is trying to legislate morality. I gurantee you this...you won't care about porno in Hell...where the worm dieth not.
11-13-2009 @ 10:28AM
Jim said...
Most men these days are tired of seeing the overblown "juggs" made up by silicone or saline. Natural breasts (at least in my opinion) are far more attractive, and more sensative to the touch. As a note to the women out there: Please keep it real. Not all men are turned on by "D" or even "C" cups, and there are still many of us that will love you as you are. Natural and beautiful. Fake beauty is overrated, and that includes fake coloring, and tons of make-up. There are many men out there like myself that are looking for a more natural woman. I don't mean 60's hippies that don't bathe though :) I am personally hoping to find a woman that hasn't gone bananas and done "enhancements", because to me those unnatural changes take away from the inner woman, who I truly want to meet.
11-13-2009 @ 10:54AM
cardoc said...
Jim, very well said, there are men including me who dont think Cs and Ds are more attractive than the woman's natural B, neither is layers of makeup more attractive than a clean unmade-up natural beauty. But women do this not only because many men want that, but also I think some of the women themselves enjoy the making up and what they see in the mirror. The downside is that by mid 30s their facial skin is so horrible, you really dont want to see them au natural.
11-13-2009 @ 2:36PM
David said...
Very sad but true article. Hefner was an icon, not because of all the debauchary at the Chicago and LA mansions, but more so because he helped usher in the sexual freedom revolution, as well as becoming one of the biggest defenders of the right to free speech. Glory days, indeed! I have often wondered over the past years how he allowed the underlying reasons for Playboy's success to slip away. It's almost like listening to the ensemble cast of The Big Chill who have to deal with the fact they let their ideals and dreams sink under the waves of practical life. But maybe, like them, Hef is just a part of a much larger problem called indifference.
11-12-2009 @ 6:05PM
BOOWAH said...
I was a Playboy subscriber since the sixties. Two years ago they insisted on me supplying a credit card number for a multiyear subscription. I stuck to my guns and demanded that they send me a renewal notice in the mail and I would send a check if I chose to renew on a year by year basis. They complied but repeated the same insistance on a credit card renewal the following year. I told them not to bother and that I would be cancelling my subscription.
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11-12-2009 @ 6:13PM
MoNsTeR said...
playboy sucks and im sure mr hefner dosent care since hes living day to day now i mean the guys like 90 every playmate looks the same and its more writing than nudity anyway men want nasty not classy
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11-12-2009 @ 6:18PM
Donovan said...
Considering one can find anything on the internet their looking for. News papers and magazines are becoming rather obsolete. Playboy has no doubt had its hay day. However, its perhaps time to retire this magazine, along with Heff and his bunnies. Another icon I'm afraid, has become an antique.
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11-12-2009 @ 11:12PM
SamBlob said...
Now comes the task of getting those who read the Internet instead of magazines to spell words correctly or to check a dictionary. Or has correct spelling also had its heyday?
11-13-2009 @ 7:20AM
Hugh said...
Sam, a cursory glance at any internet message board will answer your question quite succinctly, I'm sorry to say.
11-12-2009 @ 6:19PM
jon said...
Hef is all set. An endless supply of hot asses at his beckoning call and a ton of money in the bank. If I were him I would sell it off and make the best of it. Who cares, you only live once, and there is only so much time to find some more nice asses:).
Reply
11-12-2009 @ 6:37PM
Bill said...
Everything has a life cycle. Print media is at the end of it's life cycle.
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11-12-2009 @ 7:49PM
jbjg24m said...
i prefer Penthouse !
Reply
11-12-2009 @ 7:54PM
jbjg27m said...
You make me sick Richard!!!
11-12-2009 @ 7:53PM
pat said...
Along with hot girls they used to have some very good articles but those days are long gone. They we're late in getting into night-clubs and by that time drugs were running rampant thru the clubs .They have always been two steps behind times.
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11-12-2009 @ 8:05PM
Plowboy said...
Hopefully Playboy does go under, makes my collection that much more valuable. Besides it really has gotten rather bad in all respects.
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11-12-2009 @ 8:26PM
JAN said...
Its a bit sad for me to see Playboy becoming obsolete-- but this is a whole different era now. Playboy was somewhat progresive and avant guard in its day. Every young boy couldn't wait to get his hands on a copy and always in secret. I was a Playboy bunny way back in the sixties. It had an aura of magic and mystique. I can't see it surviving during this progressive technological revolution but just like everything else including us ourselves....things grow old, ut of date and are replaced with newer more current things!!
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