Hugh Hefner launches campaign to take Playboy empire private
HUGH Hefner, the doyen of top-shelf magazines, has launched a bid to take his Playboy Enterprises empire private.
The octogenarian mogul yesterday announced a proposal to buy out all of the outstanding shares in the group for $5.50 per share in cash, a premium of over 30 per cent, valuing the firm at around $185m (£123m).
Playboy said Hefner had secured a partnership agreement for the deal with Rizvi Traverse Management, which had already been in contact with major lenders about financing.
Hefner currently owns 69.5 per cent of Playboy’s Class A common stock and 27.7 per cent of its Class B stock.
He has advised the board that he will not contemplate a sale or merger of the company or entering into discussions with any other partners, out of concern for “the Playboy brand, the editorial direction of the magazine and Playboy’s legacy”.
Playboy and its famous bunny logo were set up by Hefner in 1953 and the company listed in New York in the early 1970s. However, it has recently struggled to cope with soaring levels of competition spawned by the internet and has had to make large-scale cut-backs to its workforce.