Playboy Enterprises

Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
Playboy Enterprises International, Inc.
New Playboy, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Lifestyle / Pornography
Founded	Chicago, Illinois (1953)
Founder(s)	Hugh Hefner
Headquarters	Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Area served	Global
Key people	Scott Flanders, CEO
Products	Playboy Magazine Playboy TV Playboy Online Adult entertainment
Revenue	$215 million (2010)[1]
Operating income	$-36.30 million (2010)[1]
Net income	$-48.50 million (2010)[1]
Total assets	$196.83 million (2010)[1]
Total equity	$-22.30 million (2010)[1]
Employees	547 (2010)[1]
Website	playboyenterprises.com

Playboy Enterprises, Inc. is an American privately held global media and lifestyle company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. It was founded by Hugh Marston Hefner to initially manage the Playboy magazine empire. The company is structured with two primary business segments: Media (which manages content for print, digital, social, mobile, TV and radio platforms) and Licensing (which licenses the Playboy name, Rabbit Head design and other trademarks, logos and images for use in connection with consumer goods, venues and events). The company also owns and operates the iconic Playboy Mansion property in Los Angeles, California.^[2] Today, Playboy Enterprises, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development and distribution of content, products and high-profile events that embodies both “eroticism and fine art.”^[3] The Playboy rabbit logo is one of the most widely recognized and popular brands in the world.

Sales of Playboy magazine peaked in 1972 at over 7 million copies.^[4] Today, Playboy’s 5.6 million readers continue to rank it #1 for being one of their favorite men’s monthly magazines.^[5] The company now derives over 40 percent of its revenues from its media division, and about half of the revenue comes from the licensing of consumer products.^[6]

Playboy Enterprises, Inc. is based in Beverly Hills, California, having closed its former headquarters in the top office floors of 680 N. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois in April 2012.^[7] In January 2013, the company said it employed 165 employees.^[2]

Brief history

Playboy Enterprises was created in 1953 as the HMH Publishing Co., Inc. for the purpose of publishing Playboy. The business quickly expanded and began to develop and distribute a wider range of adult entertainment. It went public in 1971. Christie Hefner, daughter of Hugh Hefner, was the President from 1982, and Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer from 1988, until she left the company in 2009.

The Age reported in October 2008 that, for the first-time ever, Hugh Hefner was selling tickets to his celebrity-filled parties to offset his cash-flow problems due to setbacks Playboy Enterprises has suffered, including decreasing Playboy circulation, decreasing stock value, and ventures that have yet to turn a profit.^[8] Christie Hefner released a memo to employees about her efforts to streamline the company's operations, including eliminating its DVD division and laying off staff.^[9]

Divisions

• Publishing Group:
  • Playboy magazine
  • Playboy Newsstand Specials
• Entertainment Group:
  • Playboy TV (formerly the Playboy Channel)
  • Spice Network (Consists of 12 digital networks)
  • Playboy Online:
    • Playboy.com
    • Playboy.de
    • Playboy.co.uk
    • PlayboyStore.com
    • Playboy Gaming
    • Playboy Cyber Club
    • Playboy Plus
    • Playboy.net
  • Playboy Radio
• Licensing Group:
  • Handles Playboy trademarks on apparel, accessories, collectibles (like: trading cards, toy cars, dolls, etc.) and more
• College Division
  • Playboy on Campus

Playboy also ran forty Playboy Club properties from 1960 to 1986. From 1981 to 1984, the company was a partner in the Playboy Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Playboy Enterprises was denied a permanent New Jersey gaming license and was forced to sell out to its partner, which changed the name of the hotel/casino to the Atlantis Hotel and Casino. The company returned to the nightlife business with the Playboy Club at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, which opened in 2006^[10] and closed in 2012.^[11] Other Playboy Clubs opened in Cancun, Macau, and London in 2010 and 2011.^[12] Meanwhile, the company says it will open at least three Playboy stores in each of the next three years.

The company's Playboy Foundation provides grants to non-profit groups involved in fighting censorship and researching human sexuality.

Playboy Entertainment

The Playboy Entertainment Group is a division of Playboy Enterprises that includes Playboy TV and Playboy Online, which is the fastest growing revenue source for the company. The Entertainment segment develops, produces, acquires, and distributes various feature films, magazine-format shows, reality-based and dramatic series, documentaries, live events, and celebrity and playmate features for television networks, Web-based entertainment experiences, portable podcast entertainment, DVD products, and online gaming under the Playboy and Spice brand names.

As of December 31, 2005, it owned, operated, or licensed 23 television and movie networks under Playboy TV, Playboy TV en Espanol, and Spice in the United Kingdom, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and Japan. Its programming is carried in the U.S. by all six of the major multiple system operators and both of the satellite direct-to-home, or DTH, providers. In 2005, a Playboy satellite radio station launched on Sirius Satellite Radio.

The company offers multiple subscription-based Web sites and online video-on-demand theaters under the Playboy and Spice names. It also operates e-commerce Web sites, including PlayboyStore.com for purchasing Playboy-branded fashions, calendars, DVDs, jewelry, collectibles, back issues of Playboy magazine, and special editions, as well as non-Playboy-branded products; and SpiceTVStore.com, which offers adult-oriented products, including DVDs, lingerie, and sensual products. The Company has online operations consisting of a network of websites with an established and growing subscriber and revenue base.

The Company distributes its original programming domestically in DVD format. More recently, it began developing portable podcast content. It also distributes various non-Playboy-branded movies and continues to re-package and re-market its catalog of previously released DVD titles. Company-wide marketing operations consist of Alta Loma Entertainment, the Playboy Jazz Festival and Playmate Promotions. Alta Loma Entertainment functions as a production Company that leverages its assets, including editorial material, as well as icons such as the Playmates, the Playboy Mansion and Mr. Hefner, to develop original programming for other television networks.

Its revenue is derived from Domestic Television, International Television, Online, and other sources. Currently the Entertainment division accounts for over 60% of the revenue of the Playboy Enterprises.^[13]

Playboy Licensing

The Licensing segment licenses the Playboy name, the Rabbit Head design and other images, trademarks, and artwork to “appear on a wide range of consumer products including apparel, accessories, footwear, lingerie, jewelry, fragrances and home fashions.” Its licensed products generate “more than $1 billion in global retail sales in more than 150 countries and territories.”^[14] Spirits and vapor products are among Playboy’s latest licensing ventures. The spirits are made by VuQo.^[15][16]

The Company's trademarks and copyrights are critical to the success and potential growth of its business as “Playboy is one of the most recognized, celebrated and popular consumer brands in the world.”^[17] In 2013, Playboy ranked number 56 among the Top 150 Global Licensors by License! Global magazine.^[18]

Currently the Licensing division accounts for about 50% of the revenue of Playboy Enterprises.^[19]

Playboy Publishing

The Publishing segment publishes Playboy magazine, a general-interest magazine targeted to men; special editions, books, and calendars; and the licensing of international editions of Playboy magazine. Playboy magazine is the largest monthly men's magazine in the United States and in the world, based on the combined circulation of the U.S. and international editions.^[20] Playboy formerly published Oui Magazine and Hefner also published Trump Magazine.

As of 2007, the Publishing division accounted for nearly 30% of the revenue of the Playboy Enterprises.^[21]

In 2005, the company began producing Playboy Digital which is an exact duplicate of the print version of the magazine. Its initial launch started with 15,000 subscriptions. This is very different from Playboy Online, which produces original content. In 2005, Playboy began print editions in Argentina, Slovakia, and Ukraine bringing the number of international editions to 20.^[22]

Investor information

In March 2011, founder Hugh Hefner succeeded in a bid to take Playboy private after 40 years as a publicly traded company.^[23]

References

External links

• Official website