Christie Hefner to resign from Playboy
The next chief executive of Playboy Enterprises Inc. won’t have the name Hefner but will face the same challenge: how to make a profit in a marketplace saturated with sex.
Christie Hefner, a high-profile female CEO in Chicago, is stepping down from Playboy after two decades spent adapting father Hugh Hefner’s 1950s swinger lifestyle and 1980s-style magazine to a shifting media landscape.
The 56-year-old Christie Hefner took over as CEO at a low point in Playboy’s history, after her father’s adult-media empire had cut back its “bunny” clubs and casino operations in a financial squeeze. She departs during equally difficult times, leaving behind a company that has embraced multimedia and licensing opportunities under her stewardship but still has trouble making money.
Playboy will conduct a “very broad search” for her successor, considering candidates from across the business world, said Jerome Kern, a Playboy director and business consultant who will serve as interim CEO if a successor isn’t found when Hefner steps down voluntarily as of Jan. 31.
Hugh Hefner, still the controlling shareholder, said the new CEO would come from outside the company.
“Obviously, the stock has taken a real beating,” he said in an interview Monday. “We need to reestablish the direction of the company. We’re looking for somebody beyond publishing who can really run an all-media company.”
A successor will “connect the power of the brand to the day-to-day bottom line,” said the 82-year-old Hefner. “It offers a really rare opportunity. There is no comparable, sophisticated men’s brand out there.”
Christie Hefner said she was stepping down to pursue unspecified public-service and nonprofit ventures, as well as television commentary and speaking opportunities. She said she would remain in Chicago with her husband, former state Sen. William Marovitz, and did not intend to seek another full-time executive post, though she might serve on corporate boards.
The company’s headquarters are expected to remain in Chicago, she said.
Her departure came as a surprise to Playboy outsiders and some insiders, though it comes after difficult financial results.
Playboy is well positioned for an eventual rebound, Christie Hefner said, saying she intended to remain a major shareholder.
“It wouldn’t be possible for me to be making this change if the company weren’t in real strong shape,” she said.
Not everyone believes Playboy has a future, given the competition it faces for adult content on TV and the Internet.
But Playboy has reached an unlikely new audience of young women through the cable television show “The Girls Next Door,” which features three youthful girlfriends of Hugh Hefner. It also is on the verge of expanding its casino gaming and club operation to Macao, and additional “international opportunities” beckon, he said.
Playboy has suffered in the economic downturn as advertising and circulation at its flagship magazine plunged and its adult TV and movie programs lost ground to free content. Its best-performing unit has been its licensing division, which puts the Playboy logo on apparel, jewelry and entertainment venues such as the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
