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Jimmy Jellinek in 2010. (Chicago Magazine)
Playboy Enterprises on Wednesday sought to downplay speculation that its headquarters were headed for the West Coast, despite the fact that its editorial director is moving there.
Jimmy Jellinek, editorial director and chief content officer, posted on Facebook this morning that he was moving to Los Angeles in August. Shortly thereafter, the post was taken down, according to Time out Chicago. Get the full story »
So how much is Hugh Hefner’s iconic Playboy Mansion really worth?
The issue has arisen in a lawsuit accusing the 84-year-old media mogul of trying to take Playboy Enterprises Inc, the publisher known for nude centerfolds, private in a sweetheart deal at other shareholders’ expense.
In an amended complaint filed February 4 in Delaware Chancery Court, shareholders complained that an October 2010 appraisal valued the 29-room Los Angeles mansion at $54 million, 45 times higher than the $1.2 million shown on Playboy’s books. Get the full story »
Playboy will be taken private under an agreement with Icon Acquisition Holdings, a limited partnership controlled by founder Hugh Hefner, left. (LATimes)
By Robert Channick | More than 57 years after launching Playboy from his South Side apartment, Hugh Hefner is buying back the bunny.
After six months of deliberation, an improved offer to take Playboy Enterprises private at $6.15 a share passed muster with the board, which voted Sunday to return the magazine empire to its 84-year-old founder.
Shares of Playboy spiked nearly 18 percent on Monday. Get the full story »
From The Street | Playboy Enterprises shares were up 1.5 percent in afternoon trading Wednesday after Caris analyst David Miller upgraded the company to above average from average, and raised his price target to $6.50 from $5 on his belief that founder Hugh Hefner has the means to take the company private. Get the full story>>
From the BBC | A Dali watercolour of a reclining nude that once hung in Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s bedroom has fetched $266,500 at a New York auction. The nude, featured in a 1967 issues of Playboy and not expected to get more $150,000, was among 125 artworks owned by the magazine to go under the hammer at Christie’s.
Wednesday’s sale included 80 photos and 24 cartoons, a fraction of the magazine’s archives stored in a warehouse in Chicago. Get the full story>>
From Time Magazine | With this week’s opening of the Playboy Club Macao, Playboy CEO Scott Flanders said he is confident he’s found a place for the iconic company in the digital age. Instead of relying on American men buying magazines and watching cable, the company’s profits will depend on two seemingly unlikely demographics: Asian women and cosmopolitan clubgoers. Get the full story>>
A Dali watercolor of a reclining nude that hung in Hugh Hefner’s bedroom is among 125 artworks being auctioned by the magazine known for baring all for nearly 60 years. The sale includes 80 photographs, more than a dozen contemporary works and 24 cartoons.
The Dec. 8 auction at Christie’s is dubbed “The Year of the Rabbit.” Founder and editor-in-chief Hefner said the magazine that has entertained, titillated and informed with its commissioned art has blurred the lines between fine and popular art.
“Playboy helped to change the very direction of commercial art — breaking down the wall between fine art and commercial art,” the 84-year-old Hefner told The Associated Press in an interview at his Los Angeles mansion. Get the full story »
Hugh Hefner, founder of Playboy Enterprises, said in an interview the company is “probably going” to move its headquarters out of Chicago.
A Playboy spokeswoman said Tuesday, however, that the company has “no plans” to move from Chicago.
Hefner, who is Playboy’s editor-in-chief and chief creative officer, was asked by Matt Pais of Chicago Tribune Media Group’s Metromix.com whether the offices will be moving out of Chicago, where Hefner launched his groundbreaking Playboy magazine and empire in 1953.
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Playboy Enterprises Inc. said Thursday that it expects to book a non-cash charge in excess of $20 million related to its television programming inventory in the third quarter that ended Sept. 30. Get the full story »
From the Yorkshire Evening Post | Almost 30 years since its original club closed in London, Playboy Enterprises said it return to London next year in Mayfair. The new Playboy Club will include a restaurant, cocktail bar and casino, spread over two floors. The return has been discussed for at least a decade but now Playboy and its partner London Clubs International say they will open the venue in the first half of 2011. Get the full story>>
The Playboy Enterprises Inc. special board committee tapped to evaluate Hugh Hefner’s offer to take the company private said Tuesday it retained Raine Securities LLC and Kaye Scholer LLP as its financial and legal advisors, respectively. Get the full story »
Playboy Enterprises Inc. said Tuesday its board of directors has formed a special committee to consider founder Hugh Hefner’s proposal to buy out the rest of the company.
The committee will consist of attorney Sol Rosenthal, who will serve as its chairman, and Playboy director Shing Tao. Rosenthal is a counsel at international law firm Arnold & Porter, while Tao is chairman and chief investment officer of Pacific Star Partners, a private investment group. Get the full story »
Hugh Hefner at his home in California in May. (L.A. Times)
FriendFinder Networks Inc., the owner of the Penthouse adult entertainment franchise, announced today it has made a proposal to acquire rival Playboy Enterprises Inc. that the Florida company valued at $210 million.
The move counters a bid made earlier this week by Hugh Hefner to take the company he founded in 1953 private in a deal that would value Playboy at $185 million, or $5.50 a share. Get the full story »
Friend Finder Networks Inc., the owner of Penthouse magazine, said this morning it has hired Imperial Capital LLC as financial advisor in its effort to buy Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
FriendFinder is a rival suitor in the effort to take over Playboy. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner earlier this week offered Playboy’s board $5.50 a share to buy the remaining stake of Playboy he does not own in a private takeover of the iconic company. Get the full story »
