Inside these posts: Scott Flanders

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Jan. 10 at 4:50 p.m.
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Filed under: M&A, Magazines, Media, Updated

Hefner to take Playboy private; shares spike

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 »

Nov. 30, 2010 at 7:49 a.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Magazines, Media

Playboy looks to Asia for growth

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>>

July 12, 2010 at 12:13 p.m.
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Filed under: M&A, Media

Hugh Hefner, Penthouse pursue Playboy

By Michael Oneal
Hugh Hefner Playboy Club Chicago

Hugh Hefner with a dozen Playboy Bunnies at the original Chicago Playboy Club in 1960. (Playboy)

Shares in Playboy Enterprises Inc. surged nearly 35 percent this morning after its board of directors said it received a proposal from Hugh Hefner to acquire all of the outstanding shares of the struggling media company for $5.50 per share in cash.

Hefner, 84, currently owns 69.5 percent of Playboy’s Class A common stock and 27.7 percent of  its Class B common stock, and has teamed with a Michigan private equity firm called Rizvi Traverse Management LLC to fund the bid for the shares he doesn’t own.

The Hefner bid values Playboy at $185 million but could spark an auction for the company. Marc Bell, chief executive of FriendFinder Networks Inc., which owns the rival Penthouse adult franchise, said he is readying a competing bid for Playboy. Get the full story »

June 29, 2010 at 10:23 p.m.
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Filed under: Layoffs, Media

Playboy cuts jobs to save $3M a year

By Reuters

Playboy CEO Scott Flanders in his Chicago office. (Tribune file photo)

Playboy Enterprises said it is cutting staff in an effort to save more than $3 million annually as it transitions from a media company into one that primarily licenses the Playboy brand.

The company declined to say Tuesday how many employees are affected by the move.

At the end of March, Playboy employed 573 people in its Los Angeles and Chicago offices, down from 651 a year ago. Get the full story »

April 9, 2010 at 12:11 p.m.
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Filed under: Chicago executives, Media

Playboy CEO Flanders gets $3.25M in 2009

Tribune staff report | Playboy Enterprises Chief Executive Scott Flanders earned $3.25 million in his first year on job, according to the Chicago-based media company’s proxy materials filed today.

Flanders, who was appointed in June 2009, earned a salary of $430,769 and a bonus of $400,000. He was awarded $406,500 in Playboy stock and more than $2 million in stock options. He was also compensated $732 for protection services, the company said.

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