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Virgin Speculated Among Potential Playboy Buyers
26-May-2009
Written by: Elizabeth Lilly
Amidst financial losses, talk of selling adult-media giant.
Playboy is not exempt from the hard hits to the publishing world that have left many magazines suffering if at all left standing. The adult icon is reportedly shopping around for potential buyers and according to the Chicago Tribune, U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail reported Sunday that the latest is Virgin Media’s Sir Richard Branson.
A Playboy spokesman told the Tribune Tuesday that the company would not comment on Branson as a potential buyer.
The New York Post reported that unnamed sources said that Providence Equity Partners and Apollo Capital Partners were also approached, but refused to pay the $300 million asking price while the company’s market capitalism is approximately $100 million, reported the Tribune.
However, the speculation over who will buy out Hefner has boosted the company’s stock, which closed at $2.98, Tuesday, up 3.8 percent. According to the Tribune, shares were as low as $1.15 in March.
Hugh Hefner, Playboy founder and controlling shareholder, has turned down offers in the past to sell the company and has said he plans to pass ownership interests on to his teenage sons, Cooper and Marston.
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