Playboy's Loss Widens

wsj ^ | 5/12/09

[FromLori]

Playboy Enterprises Inc. is considering reducing the circulation of its namesake magazine, cutting its frequency and raising prices as a diminishing print audience and advertising declines weigh on the adult-entertainment company. On Monday Playboy posted a net loss of $13.7 million, or 41 cents per share, for the first quarter, compared with a net loss of $4.2 million, or 13 cents per share, a year earlier. The latest results included $8.7 million in impairment and restructuring charges. Jerome Kern, Playboy's interim chairman and chief executive officer since Christie Hefner stepped down at the end of last year, said in a conference call with analysts that while the magazine is important to the company's image and brand, "it is clear that this company cannot continue to sustain significant losses in a business that now comprises less than one quarter of the company's revenue base." Playboy magazine, which has a guaranteed circulation of 2.6 million, this summer will combine its July and August issues to save money on printing and distribution, a move it says could be a precursor to a permanent curtailing of frequency. In recent years, Playboy has seen its audience decline due to the proliferation of options for adult content. In response, the company has implemented extensive cost-cutting efforts.

[Swede Girl]

Hugh Hefner was and is a genius. His magazine has long been a part of American culture for over 50 years. It was of its time.

I believe that Hefner should have retired from the limelight when he married the most recent wife, and he should have spent all of his energies on his young sons and more wholesome pursuits for the duration of his life.

Instead, after their divorce, he went on to become a cartoon and an old fool. He has squandered a great deal of his fortune because of this, not to mention the perception of his sophisticated persona he worked so hard to build over his career. He stayed too long at the party.

[nufsed]

I remember when Hefners’s muscle guys came to my house and foreced me to look at all the pictures.

[nufsed]

The limit on reverse mortgage is $362,000.

[nufsed]

LOL! Thanx for the Mammaries!

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

My understanding is that Hefner has "reverse mortgaged" himself out of the mansion in LA. Maybe someone here can confirm this.

You know, about 40 or 45 years ago, Hefner was probably a pretty wealthy guy.

If he had just put a little bit of it away in a mutual fund [even no more than $1 million], then right now he could be lying on a beach somewhere drinking mai tais.

Gotta wonder though if most of his money didn't either go down his gullet or up his nose.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Playboy’s problems are just one problem, and it’s not adult content. Playboy needs to always be cutting edge in what appeals to men. Adult content is just “look pretty”.

For example, Playboy used to be the magazine of the James Bond, when James Bond was the ultimate of male “cool”, but now it is positively dowdy. Joe Biden as metrosexual. No straight man wants to grow up and become something like that.

Instead, it should have equal measures of Wired magazine, for technology; cutting edge literature, music and culture; and style that men *want* to have, but could never afford.

This is because Playboy needs to sell illusions of manliness. And that isn’t something that is designed by some gay guy in New York.

For the last decade, they have missed out on publishing endless war stories written by soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. And no bones about it, these stories would be oriented to the “romance of war”, that young men *want* to read. Heroes and villains, stripped of any anti-war angst or sniveling.

Travel to exotic places sells as well. American men, in particular, need travelogue geography lessons, to be told exactly where to go and what to do, say, in the Caribbean. Playboy could create the idea that all you need is a passport, and “$X” amount of money, and you get to be there and do this.

If Playboy needs to be told these things, it is probably too late.

[evets]

[Sig Sauer P220]

I say good riddance to a magazine that has contributed to the downfall of our culture by portraying women as mere sex objects.

Yes. They cook too.

[enraged]

I dunno, they made me to aspire for a girl whose turn ons include: Warm beaches, boating, and nice dinners by the fire. And I'll be damned if I didn't find one just like that!
These are / were some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, posed in semi-provacative settings. Most all are somewhat artful, with the occasional stupidity mixed in, but you get that in most things. You want expoitation? check out hustler, barely legal, and some of the true hard core crap, then maybe you'd see the old standby playboy for what it is, a simple diversion for college kids and old men wanting to relive their missed youths.

[Right Wing Assault]

They are going to switch from 3 square foot color photos to black and white pencil sketches to save money.

[Hoffer Rand]

Not to mention the cost of keeping Hef supplied with his ED med of choice has got to be phenomenal.

[Pinkbell]

You can’t deny that Playboy helped open the doors for magazines like Hustler and other porn becoming more mainstream, though.

[enraged]

That may be true, but that is a different argument. We were talking about Playboy only.

[BlueNgold]

So
Many
Jokes
Must
Restrain
Self
..............
arrghhhhhhhhh