Playboy Iconix Deal off the Table?

Stock watcher Streetinsider.com reports that Playboy Enterprises stock is falling today on reports that Iconix Brands is breaking off talks about buying the company. As of a little after 9:00 am Pacific time this morning, Playboy's stock is down 12.73% to $3.35.

Not Much New in Latest Playboy Restructuring Plans

You won't find much new in the latest Folio: report on the restructuring at Playboy Enterprises. Yet again, the magazine is struggling. Yet again, the licensing division is quite profitable. Yet again, there are no specifics from CEO Scott Flanders about what type of "bolder steps" are needed to fix things at the flagship magazine.

Might I suggest quality? I'm a broken record. But still, they can't cut their way to a new business model at the magazine. They need to rethink what makes people read the magazine, and what will attract advertisers in a big way.

Nothing new.

More on the Playboy "Strategic Repositioning" News: More Clubs

Chicago Tribune has an interview that fleshes out the earlier Folio: article in which new Playboy Enterprises CEO Scott Flanders said there'd be a strategic repositioning of the company, though print'd stay around.

The Trib article tells us where a big focus of the company will be going forward: Clubs. The one Playboy Club in existence, in Las Vegas, is apparently doing well, even in the recession.

Back in its heyday, Playboy had dozens of clubs, including huge (and musta-been expensive) resorts in New Jersey and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Years after Christie Hefner shut them down, she was asked about that, and she noted that Playboy had a good run with clubs; it's hard to make clubs (restaurants and entertainment venues) work for long, and Playboy had more than two decades of success before the market changed. (In particular, the idea of "key clubs" went out of fashion, though the company was also hurt by losing its lucrative casino gaming licenses.)

So this strategic repositioning is probably a smart move, re-adopting something that worked in its past, and it could be successful if the company properly updates the concept to the modern day. It seems to have been a big success at the Palms in Las Vegas, and there are plenty of other destination cities around the world where a Playboy Club could do quite well.

As for the flagship magazine, though Flanders seemed clear in the Folio: interview that the mag was here to stay, the Trib article puts up some parameters: "Playboy has no plans to shut the magazine, but has hinted at drastic cuts in frequency, circulation and pages. Playboy TV has room to grow, Flanders said, and the company's subscription Web sites have held their own against piracy and competition from free sites."

Of course, just like in the 1960s, '70s and early '80s, a successful destination entertainment business can help fuel the print side. There can be positive feedback in both directions. So, a rising tide here could life the print boat. Hopefully.

Media Roundup: Controversial Magazine Covers, Christie Hefner, The Upper Room, Just Drive

The latest of interest from the worlds of media (with an emphasis on print):

• The Web Designer Depot blog has a list of the most controversial magazine covers, which is worth a look. There is a lot of overlap with the American Society of Magazine Editors' list of all-time best American magazine covers.
• A sale of Time Warner's print magazine business is said to be in the future, according to one source. That's according to a major shareholder; Time Warner itself ain't sayin' nothin'. Hmm, after they've unloaded print and AOL, doesn't that just make them a Hollywood film studio with a really tall building in New York City?
  
• There's some more info about her exit from Playboy Enterprises to be gleaned from The New York Time's recent profile of Christie Hefner. She alludes to feeling the pressure of knowing her decisions affected the jobs of so many people, and she also was not looking forward to managing the company through yet another economic downturn. So last December she announced her impending departure from the top spot at the company her father founded 55 years earlier. She remains a political and media force. Though the Times notes some of the activities with which she is filling her schedule, I suspect it is only a matter of time before some big project or job comes along to fully utilize her talents.
• Methodists have a long history of publishing, going all the way back to the tracts written by founder John Wesley. The Upper Room is a small (sized) big (circulation -- about 2 million) devotional magazine produced by the denomination. The Tennessean has a report on the magazine's new publisher, who already has a successful track record (ooh, a tract record??) making a Methodist publication a financial success.
• My favorite recent newsstand find is a special issue from the UK's Car magazine. Epic Drives is a deluxe special publication (read that: high cover price, very nice paper, big size) featuring a collection of their recent road trips in various (usually high-end) autos around the world. Porsches, Lamboghinis, Koenigseggs, Jaguars, BMWs, Audis, Maseratis, and more. But you don't have to be a car nut (or a Car nut) to enjoy this collection of articles. Written with typical UK punchy journalism, the articles contain plenty of interesting atmostphere about the places visited, which include the highways of Scotland, the Arctic Circle, Moscow, South Korea, Turkey, and -- again -- more.
• Journalism is dead; long live journalism schools? The Badger Herald reports on an increase in j-school students across the country. Well, someone's got to work at Borders.
  

My previous media roundup.

New Playboy CEO Puts the Kibosh on Sales Talk?

And no, I'm not certain that I spelled "kibosh" correctly.

Anyway, news comes that Playboy Enterprise's new CEO is the widely rumored Scott Flanders, currently the CEO of Freedom Communications, Inc., a California family owned newspaper and television media company. In an interview in the Chicago Tribune, Flanders says a number of interesting things -- almost all of them right -- including his commitment to working for Playboy's long-term success and not a quick sale.

I thought this comment was pretty important, showing that he understands the company he will be heading, starting July 1:

Playboy already has a very powerful brand, a very powerful asset. It participates across virtually every media platform. In many of those areas, Playboy was a pioneer. Having said that, it is still a relatively small company. While it punches above its weight, I believe Playboy's best days are in front of it.

I'm always a bit skeptical when a corporate chief says our-best-days-are-ahead-of-us sort of stuff (because they all say it, even if their Titanic is about to hit the corporate iceberg), but the above comment suggests that Flanders knows both his new company's limitations and its potential. His grounded optimism becomes even clearer when he defends print publishing:

I remain a believer in print. The consumer experience is much more tactile and comfortable with print. Particularly with magazines, there is a visual experience. Not just for the content and the editorial, but also for the advertising. The newspaper and magazine industry do not have an audience recession. When you add the print readership and the 45 million pageviews. ... The audience for Playboy is larger than it has ever been.

You can read the entire interview here, including his comments about moving from a libertarian publishing company to one perceived to be liberal (but, in reality, has largely been libertarian) and about the actual health of Playboy Enterprises (compared to the perception).

Flanders replaces interim CEO Jerome Kern and is the permanent replacement for Christie Hefner, the longtime Playboy company head who left in January.

Playboy for Sale? For $300 Million, Perhaps

The New York Post's magazine columnist Keith Kelly reports that the Playboy empire "is quietly being shopped around for $300 million," but there haven't yet been any takers. If Kelly's report (based on his industry sources) is true, then earlier suggestions that all that sale talk wasn't real was itself not real.

Playboy Enterprises Inc. interim Chair/CEO Jerome Kern hasn't, of course, contacted me to buy the company (an oversight, I'm sure) (though, come to think of it, he also didn't contact me about the search for a permanent replacement for former Chair/CEO Christie Hefner; hmmmm...), but there's got to be a buyer out there somewhere for this. (Remember all the interest in acquiring Penthouse from bankruptcy, and that company was a basket case? Playboy's not.) My guess is that the challenge will be finding a buyer or investor who can work the ownership and editorial needs of Hugh Hefner, who still owns most of the voting shares (and whom Kelly says recently lamented taking his company public in the 1970s as his biggest regret).

Update: Playboy spokesperson denies the company's being shopped around, according to Crain's Chicago Business. So are Keith Kelly's sources full of hot air or is Playboy trying to keep it ultra-quiet?

Updates: Mavety, Playboy, Condé Nast

The Chicago Tribune follows up its report on upcoming major changes at Playboy magazine with some comments from PEI interim CEO/Chairman Jerome Kern: "I envision having a magazine. ... I don’t want a magazine that’s ... in intensive care. I want a magazine that stands for the brand [and] is out with the public, but isn't going to eat us alive. That's what we're trying to figure out." So that could be good; that could mean they're looking for a path to producing a quality magazine without busting the budget. My broken-record advice is to focus on great articles; the photos aren't going to sell long-time readers.

By the time you read this, PEI might have already appointed a permanent CEO. I'm figuring it'll be someone hispanic and female. Oh, wait, that's the Supreme Court justice...

And, just for the hell of it, former Partridge Family star Shirley Jones is being touted (by her husband) as a Playboy model. I don't makes them up; I just reports them.

The news that publisher Mavety Media Group is putting to sleep its entire line of gay skin mags has rocketed around the blogosphere. Tim1965 provides a rundown of the state of the genre publishing field.

Meanwhile, Back2Stonewall.com offers an elegy for Mavety's titles.

Made in Brazil thinks Conde Nast's Men's Vogue is a waste.

Big Dumb Object -- which I think is just a damn great title for a blog or a band -- has some thoughts on Wired mag, and a reader even mentions one of my favorite oldies: Future Life magazine.

More later. Good night.

More on the Playboy Situation

Folio: has more background info on the expected cuts in circulation, frequency, and rate base at Playboy magazine. I'm pleased to see that, as I implored here yesterday, price increases are considered for part of the solution.

It still remains to be seen if the content of the magazine will be gutted or debased. One is seldom optimistic when it's being determined by corporate board types. But interim Chairman and CEO Jerome Kern comes across as a bit more positive in the Folio: article than he did in the Chicago Tribune article I quoted yesterday. Folio: quotes him saying, "Despite a first quarter that was weaker than last year … we believe the magazine's bottom line will improve in 2009 versus last year. This performance is still not acceptable, however, and we expect to continue making changes that will lead to further improvements in the magazine's financial results."

Playboy to Cut Issues, Circulation, Ad Rates?

Look for Playboy magazine to combine two issues into one this year to save printing and postage costs. That's just one of several "radical" changes the 55-year-old periodical is considering as it reacts to the vicious downturn in the economy (amidst a continuing slump in circulation, though still at about 2.5 million), according to a report in today's Chicago Tribune:

Playboy plans to combine its July and August issues into a single edition to reduce printing and distribution costs, and it is looking at trimming its circulation and reducing its advertising rates, officials said. Playboy is also planning to roll out a redesign in its June edition aimed at bringing a "younger and fresher look to the magazine," [interim chairman Jerome] Kern said.

Leaving aside the fact that the magazine did a redesign starting with its January issue, does anyone really think the problem is the magazine's design? Furthermore, must we really take seriously this "younger and fresher" silliness? Didn't we learn from the days earlier this decade when the magazine was rumored to be trying to ditch its readers who were over the age of 25?

If they want to cut circulation, might I suggest they raise prices? Stop selling subscriptions at such cheap rates. Raise the cover price. That'll naturally deter some readers, which is apparently the new goal. And it'll also bring in more revenue. Make it a reader's magazine again. Beef up the content; don't kill it.

Oh, and for the hundredth time: Do something about the advertising situation. With 2.5 million in circ, the mag should certainly get more ads than GQ or Esquire, both of which are well south of a million.

Playboy for Sale?

No, this isn't a Playboy-focused blog, though it may seem like it lately. Just a lot of HefCo-related news these days.
That includes this whopper. Everybody's reporting awful news in the magazine industry, so the fact that Playboy reported a very bad quarter ($156.1 million) isn't a surprise. What was surprising was the comment that the company would consider a sale and/or a big change in its flagship magazine. According to Reuters, "The company, which posted a net loss in each quarter of 2008, also said it would be open to discussions about an outright sale of the company, or changes in the strategic direction of the flagship Playboy Magazine."
Okay, Folio: says the sale option was announced in response to a question from someone on the conference call with the company's CEO, Jerome Kern. So it isn't quite like they raised the for-sale flag on their own. But it's a sign that nothing seems to be off the table.
Just when I thought they were on the right track with the mag. This recession is getting vurry, vurry ugly.
I could have much fun, being a big magazine geek, expounding on what I'd do if I could buy Playboy Enterprises, but I'll hold back. For now. Wait until a rainy day with no other magazine news to report.

Magazine Views: Making Good Plans

One of the two oddest moves that Playboy magazine made a decade ago was moving its main editorial office from Chicago to New York when it hired new Editorial Director James Kaminsky. (The other oddest move was hiring James Kaminsky.) The magazine undid one of those moves after a couple years, replacing Kaminsky with Christopher Napolitano. Now, in the midst of an economic downturn that's savaging pretty much every business in every country in the world, Playboy Enterprises is undoing the other move and is moving its offices back to Chicago.
That's a good move. There are too many national magazines that are published out of Gotham, and they tend to take on a similar world view and become less distinctive in the process.
In the process, they're making another change that gives one pause. Napolitano won't be making the trip, reportedly because of family commitments in NYC, but he will be staying on as editor-at-large. One never knows how long those "editor-at-large" gigs last; they're often a way to give someone a place to hang their hat until they find another job. But whatever it is, Napolitano has done a fine job as editorial director for the past six or so years, so one wishes him well.
But the eyebrow-raising move is the handover of the editorial director's title to Jimmy Jellinek, who has been heading up the magazine's digital content and will now oversee both print and online. That combo is being seen elsewhere, too. The question is whether Jellinek -- like Kaminsky, a veteran of crude-boy title Maxim -- is right for Playboy. Forbes raises questions about that, noting his past statements and actions that are more suited to a college humor magazine than a magazine that has housed John Updike and William F. Buckley.

But I'm heartened by Jellinek's stated intention with the magazine. As Forbes reports:

What he plans, he says, is "a return to our golden age," producing a magazine like "the Playboy of the 1960s, which occupied the political and moral high ground." There will be more columnists and the same classic interviews with leading thinkers like economist Paul Krugman, whose interview will appear in a upcoming issue.
Jellinek says his competition is not adult magazines or online porn but the New Yorker and Vanity Fair. "We want to be a magazine of ideas that leads the national conversation."

He's got the right aim, if that's his target. I'd bet that the vast majority of Americans who know anything about Ayn Rand or Sarte can attribute that familiarity to interviews the two thinkers gave to Playboy in the 1960s. A mix of fun and thought -- that's a great combination, and it gives one reason to expect a lively magazine and web site even in these brutal economic times.

Magazine News: Christie Hefner to Leave Playboy Enterprises

This morning's surprise announcement: Christie Hefner is resigning as chair and CEO of Playboy Enterprises, the multimedia company she has headed for 20 years (and has worked at for even longer).

Why is she resigning? The press release from Playboy Enterprises simply refers to her wanting to do other things in her life after devoting so many years to the company founded by her father, Hugh Hefner. That is certainly her right, and no one need criticize her for that.

Nonetheless, it is happening at a time that is particularly difficult for publishing in general. This past weekend, it was announced that the Chicago Tribune is reportedly considering filing for bankruptcy. And there have been reports that some cities could end up without a single daily paper in the near future, as a result of the drastic cutbacks in the news industry.

Magazines haven't been immune. U.S. News and World Report is becoming a monthly magazine. The owner of Maxim is reportedly in financial trouble. And the stories go on and on, with cutbacks in staff, publishing frequency, ad count, and new launches. Playboy has battled all of those industry trends, but it has another millstone around its neck: Starting in the 1980s with the Meese Commission and collaboration with the religious right, boycotts and threats of boycotts scared away many of the big-pocketbook, mainstream advertisers from Playboy's pages. Has anyone calculated how many millions – tens of millions? – of dollars Playboy has lost as a result of this? Its readership has also fallen, but it is still large enough that it should be attracting several times the ad-page count that it does.

But Playboy, because of its iconic place in American culture and business, gets dissected way too much in the blogosphere and in the pages of other publications. On a personal level, I wish Ms. Hefner well. She's known as being a class act (listen to audio of her speech to The Commonwealth Club of California a few years ago).

Now, how will her successor change things?

UPDATE: MSNBC interviews Christie Hefner about her future plans; click on the video feature to view the interview. She says the company is in a strong position to weather the downturn, and she's looking to do something in the area of public service.