Contradicting media reports, Richard Branson's Virgin Group of companies is not bidding for Playboy Enterprises Inc. (NYSE:PLA), which
considered an outright sale -- with a possible
price tag of $300 million -- in February. Virgin quelled rumors of a deal in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.
The famed adult magazine publisher is having a hard time soliciting a buyer and has been turned down by a
couple private equity firms. And don't expect
TARP money to come to the rescue, either. ... The company is struggling amid the recession as advertisers and consumers pinch wallets. A vast array of free competing Internet content doesn't help either. Playboy.com is now free as well.
Playboy reported a loss of $13.7 million for the first quarter compared with a loss of $4.2 million in the previous year's period. In the fourth quarter, it lost $145.7 million, mostly due to intangible losses such as goodwill impairment.
Christie Hefner resigned as CEO in December amid a restructuring where 25% of staff was cut and the company's New York office closed. Earlier in May, interim chairman and CEO Jerome Kern said, "In our business segments, we are focused on
capitalizing on the growth potential of our digital and licensing businesses."
On the print side Kern believes the magazine's bottom line will improve in 2009 versus last year as it is given a new look. In the past year, Playboy's stock has lost about half its value and the Chicago company now has a market cap around $100 million. -
Baz HiralalGo to the story
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