Playboy may be closing the book on its print magazine just months after founder Hugh Hefner‘s death.
The company may be closing down Playboy Magazine in favor of forming more profitable partnerships with nightclubs and casinos, the Daily Mail reports, moving the focus to equity partnerships that will generate more income.
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“We want to focus on what we call the ‘World of Playboy,’” Ben Kohn, a managing partner at private-equity firm Rizvi Traverse, Playboy’s controlling shareholder, said. “We plan to spend 2018 transitioning it from a media business to a brand-management company. I’m not sure that print is necessarily the best way to communicate to our consumer going forward.”
Currently, Rizvi Traverse owns a controlling share of the Playboy empire, only having promised to continue publishing the print magazine while Hefner was alive, but it is expected that they will buy Hefner’s 35% stake in the company.
Hefner, who passed away in September, launched Playboy Magazine in 1953, building one of the world’s most recognizable brands. In 2018, revenue is expected to grow by 20% despite the possible closure of the magazine.
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