Just weeks after the debut of its revamped, nudity-free print edition, Playboy is up for sale.
Citing people familiar with the situation, The Wall Street Journal reports today that Playboy Enterprises’ principle stakeholders, founder Hugh Hefner and private equity firm Rizvi Traverse Management, are exploring a sale that could bring in more than $500 million at auction.
The move comes in the midst of an identity crisis for the 62-year-old men’s lifestyle brand. Average circulation has slid from over three million in 2005 to just over 750,000 last year, according to the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM).
For the full story read Folio Mag
And according to the FT:
The company founded in 1953 by Mr Hefner, the eccentric 89-year-old media entrepreneur, has picked Moelis & Company to run the potential sale process, those people said.
A sale of the privately owned group could generate between $400m and $500m, said one person informed about the valuation of the company. Five years ago, Mr Hefner took the company private with Rizvi Traverse Management, an investment group, for $207m.
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