by Fred Fuld III
Is the centerfold industry now passé ?
At one time, Playboy Magazine was the leading men’s magazine.
The publisher, Playboy Enterprises, was publicly traded for many years and had one of the most popular stock certificates, featuring a vignette of a nude Playboy Bunny, Willy Rey.
It also had a picture of the bunny logo, and Hugh Hefner’s signature printed on it.
Source: Author’s Collection
Hugh Hefner later took the company private.
After Hugh Hefner passed away, the company again began publicly trading through a reverse merger with a SPAC. It now trades as PLBY Group (PLBY).
Unfortunately, the stock hasn’t performed so well, trading at 2.68 at the beginning of 2023 and ending up at a dollar a share by the end of the year, a drop of over 62%.
But what about real estate? The Playboy Mansion?
The former Playboy Mansion, located at 10236 Charing Cross Rd, in Los Angeles, near Beverly Hills, was purchased on August 16, 2016 for $100,000,000. It is now only worth $34,166,291 according to Redfin, a drop of 65%.
This 14,217 square foot home has six bedrooms and eight bathrooms, and is located on five acres of land.
Which do you think has a better chance of recovering, the stock or the mansion?
Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time of publication.