SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 12 (UPI) -- Penthouse magazine's parent company said Monday it would bid for Playboy Enterprises Inc. as Playboy's Hugh Hefner offered to take his U.S. company private.
FriendFinder Networks Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marc Bell said his company would make an offer for Playboy Enterprises very soon.
"We are working on it as we speak," he told Financial Times.
He told The Wall Street Journal his company has had "an interest in Playboy for a very long time."
Playboy Enterprises did not immediately comment directly on the prospect of FriendFinder's competing proposal, but said Hefner had insisted he would not sell to a third party out of concern for "the PEI brand, the editorial direction of the magazine and PEI's legacy."
Regarding Hefner's offer, Playboy said it would form a special committee of independent directors to assess it.
"There can be no assurance that any definitive offer will be made, that any agreement will be executed or that this or any other transaction will be approved or consummated," the company said.
FriendFinder, an Internet holding company formerly known as General Media Inc., bought Penthouse as part of the company's 2003 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
Playboy -- which Hefner founded Playboy with associates in 1953, in part with a $1,000 loan from his mother -- has struggled in recent years.
It said June 29 it would restructure itself by cutting down some operations, resulting in a $3 million restructuring charge in this year's second quarter.
Hefner's offer to take Playboy private, after 39 years of being a public company, added up to about $185 million, or $5.50 a share.
His offer, which he said he would make with private equity firm Rizvi Traverse Management LLC, represents a nearly 40 percent premium to Playboy's Friday closing price of $3.94.
Playboy shares jumped $1.61, or 40.86 percent, to close Monday at $5.55.
