Hugh Hefner recently bought millions of dollars' worth of Playboy stock. Does the Robed One know something about the struggling company that other investors don't?
By Michael Brush
Given the huge amount of adult entertainment we consume as a nation, its a wonder Playboy Enterprises' stock performs like it needs a dose of Viagra.
Just look at the size of the porn market:
Americans spend about $5 billion to $8 billion on smut each year.
Sex sites account for 40% of all Internet traffic.
Satellite and cable operators earn about $800 million a year from adult movies, or about 40% of pay TV and on-demand TV revenue.
Now look at how Playboy Enterprises (PLA, news, msgs) continues to struggle:
Playboy magazine lost money last quarter as publishing revenue slipped 8%. Playboy circulation fell again to near 3 million -- which means the monthly places 19th among U.S. magazines.
Founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953, the magazine is now firmly entrenched in circulation rankings below National Geographic, Good Housekeeping and Ladies Home Journal. So far this year, Playboy's publishing unit has lost $3.4 million.
In the third quarter, Playboy as a company took in just $80.9 million in revenue. The 10 cents a share in profit Playboy earned may seem good -- since that beat last years results by four cents. But a closer peek reveals cost-cutting saved the day, along with sharp declines in taxes and interest payments. Without that help, which cant last forever, the company would have reported a loss of 5 cents per share.
For the first three quarters of the year, Playboy revenue grew an anemic 3%, and the business lost 16 cents a share -- exactly the same amount of red ink spilled in the same period last year.
All of this paints a fairly dreary portrait of Playboy.
By Michael Brush
Given the huge amount of adult entertainment we consume as a nation, its a wonder Playboy Enterprises' stock performs like it needs a dose of Viagra.
Just look at the size of the porn market:
Americans spend about $5 billion to $8 billion on smut each year.
Sex sites account for 40% of all Internet traffic.
Satellite and cable operators earn about $800 million a year from adult movies, or about 40% of pay TV and on-demand TV revenue.
Now look at how Playboy Enterprises (PLA, news, msgs) continues to struggle:
Playboy magazine lost money last quarter as publishing revenue slipped 8%. Playboy circulation fell again to near 3 million -- which means the monthly places 19th among U.S. magazines.
Founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953, the magazine is now firmly entrenched in circulation rankings below National Geographic, Good Housekeeping and Ladies Home Journal. So far this year, Playboy's publishing unit has lost $3.4 million.
In the third quarter, Playboy as a company took in just $80.9 million in revenue. The 10 cents a share in profit Playboy earned may seem good -- since that beat last years results by four cents. But a closer peek reveals cost-cutting saved the day, along with sharp declines in taxes and interest payments. Without that help, which cant last forever, the company would have reported a loss of 5 cents per share.
For the first three quarters of the year, Playboy revenue grew an anemic 3%, and the business lost 16 cents a share -- exactly the same amount of red ink spilled in the same period last year.
All of this paints a fairly dreary portrait of Playboy.
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