Playboy zeroes in
on gay market

Is Playboy going gay? That's what Christie Hefner, chief executive of Playboy Enterprises and daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, hopes to do with an unspecified gay brand the company intends to launch in the United Kingdom.

"We've extended the Playboy brand to women, and where there is a meaningful gay market, launching under a different brand is something we are very comfortable doing," Christie Hefner told The Times newspaper in London. "In the U.K., our television people are very interested, and I wouldn't be surprised if we launched something this year, given the importance of the market in Britain."

The company, which describes itself as "pro-sex" rather than pornographic, wants to launch a new gay brand as it tries to boost revenues beyond last year's $329 million. Playboy's plans to focus on the gay market are part of a strategy of diversification away from the company's Playboy magazine, which, despite its 3 million circulation, is only just profitable.

The company has developed a more lucrative product-licensing division that targets women with clothing and accessories. It also wants to maintain growth by supplying adult mobile phone clips.

The company has been publicly listed since 1971, although Hugh Hefner remains in control with the help of a dual-share structure comprising voting and nonvoting stock. Last year's pretax profit was $14 million, ending several years of losses that stemmed from investment in Internet expansion. The company, which is based in Chicago but has operations in New York, is worth $466 million, according to The Times. (The Advocate)