Hugh Hefner takes Playboy private with £115m deal

No game: Playboy, founded by Hugh Hefner, has struggled with the rise of the web

11 April 2012

Playboy will be taken private by founder Hugh Hefner after he raised his bid by 12%, ending months of negotiations.

Icon Acquisition Holdings, a limited partnership that Hefner controls, offered $6.15 per share for Playboy, valuing the company synonymous with its bunny girls and magazine centrefolds at about $180 million (£115.9 million).

Hefner owns about 70% of Playboy's Class A common stock and 28% of its Class B stock.

In July, Hefner made its first offer to buy Playboy at $5.50 a share, starting a bidding war in which FriendFinder Networks, owner of rival Penthouse magazine, offering $6.25 a share.

Playboy has been struggling to put its business back on course as circulation and advertising revenues decline with the rise of free pornography online.

Shares of the company were trading up 92 cents at $6.12 in trading before the bell today in New York.