Penthouse parent offers $210M for Playboy

BOCA RATON, Fla., July 15 (UPI) -- Penthouse magazine's parent company offered $210 million for Playboy Enterprises Inc., topping Hugh Hefner's $185 million bid to take his U.S. company private.

FriendFinder Networks Inc. proposed it would partner with Playboy empire founder Hefner, giving Hefner editorial control and letting him live in the Playboy mansion.

FriendFinder would also be willing to keep Playboy's senior management in place, Chief Executive Officer Marc Bell said.

Playboy said in a statement its board would give Friendfinder's offer "appropriate consideration."

The board can say no to either bid.

Bell's offer to partner with Hefner apparently seeks to "dislodge" private-equity firm Rizvi Traverse Management LLC, which Hefner said Monday he was working with to finance his take-private offer, the Chicago Tribune said.

Hefner -- who owns 69.5 percent of Playboy's Class A common stock and 27.7 percent of its Class B common -- offered to buy all remaining Playboy shares.

The Class B shares outnumber Class A 6 to 1, but only Class A shares can vote.

Hefner said he was not interested in selling his controlling stake in his company. He is interested only in taking Playboy private, out of concern for "the PEI brand, the editorial direction of the magazine and PEI's legacy," Playboy said Monday.

Hefner repeated his reluctance to sell in a Twitter post Tuesday.

"Playboy isn't in play," the post said. "I'm buying not selling."

Bell, whose FriendFinder also runs several social networks and adult-content Web sites, said in his letter to Playboy's board Thursday his company's ownership would " reinvigorate" Playboy "and enhance the legacy of the Playboy brand."