Playboy leaves Los Angeles for Miami Beach; CEO calls California ‘anti-business’
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Playboy Enterprises announced on Wednesday that it will relocate its headquarters from Los Angeles to Miami Beach, becoming the latest high-profile company to abandon California in favor of what some call more business-friendly environments.
Ben Kohn, chief executive of Playboy, described California as being “anti-business,” saying the state is an “extremely expensive place” to operate.
“We are excited to move the company to the city of Miami Beach, which has been phenomenal to deal with, very pro-business,” Kohn said. “When you look at the cost of doing business in California against the cost of doing business in Florida, and you combine that with the energy of Miami Beach, it made all the sense in the world for Playboy to move there.”
The once-influential media and lifestyle brand, founded in 1953 by the late Hugh Hefner, will establish its new corporate base in a luxury office building called Rivani in Miami Beach. The company, which operates out of an office on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, said it plans to be fully moved into the new Miami office by next year.
Despite a growing narrative that California is hostile to businesses, experts say the state still has unmatched advantages.
The publicly traded company did not disclose how many employees it has.
The relocation includes plans for a new Playboy Club with a restaurant and members-only space, as well as multimedia content studios to support the company’s creator network and licensing business.
Developer Robert Rivani has invested over $100 million in the commercial complex, which features wellness facilities, restaurants and meeting spaces.
Miami Beach officials have welcomed the relocation as a significant economic development. The move comes after months of courtship by city commissioners, who successfully competed against offers from other South Florida locations and cities across the country.
Playboy’s departure adds to a growing list of major corporations that have left California in recent years, citing the state’s challenging business environment. Tesla moved its headquarters from Palo Alto to Texas in 2021, while financial services giant Charles Schwab relocated from San Francisco to north Texas the same year. More recently, oil company Chevron announced its departure after 145 years in California, and In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder revealed plans to expand into Tennessee.
Hugh Hefner, the incurable playboy who built a publishing and entertainment empire on the idea that Americans should shed their puritanical hang-ups and enjoy sex, has died.
The corporate exodus has intensified scrutiny of California’s business climate, particularly its high tax rates and complex regulatory environment. California taxes its highest earners at 13.3% on regular income and applies the same rate to investment profits, among the nation’s steepest rates.
Despite the high-profile departures, economists note that California remains the world’s fourth-largest economy and continues to attract investment in technology, biotechnology and entertainment.
For Playboy, the Miami move represents a strategic return to South Florida, where the brand once maintained a significant presence. The company operated its second Playboy Club in Miami, which opened in May 1961, and the Playboy Plaza hotel on Miami Beach in the 1970s.
The company, known for its once ubiquitous men’s magazine, has been hard hit by the travails of the print advertising industry and the rise of online adult entertainment sites.
Playboy reported a net loss of $7.7 million in the second quarter, including one-time charges. Revenue jumped 13% to $28.1 million over the same period a year ago, reflecting a boost in licensing revenue.
Playboy shares, which fell 1.16% to close at $1.71 on Friday, have jumped 17% this year.
