Earnings: Playboy's Print/Digital Revenue Drops 26 Percent
This story was written by Rory Maher.
Layoffs at Playboy (NYSE: PLA) the company has cut a quarter of its staff since October 2008helped counter some of the revenue declines during the first quarter of 2009, but they weren't enough to lift the adult-entertainment company into profitability. Playboy's revenue declined 22 percent, to $61.6 million, below analyst expectations of $71.7 million. Loss-per-share was $0.15 when one-time impairment and restructuring costs are excluded (and $0.41 when these costs are included).
Print/Digital: Revenue decreased 26 percent to $26.1 million, with magazine revenue down 16 percent and digital off 39 percent. While some of the drop in digital was due to the company's ongoing problem with lower pay-site revenue, it was also a function of the fact that Playboy recently began outsourcing its e-commerce.
Entertainment: Revenue decreased 20 percent to $26.2 million, a video-on-demand sales were weak.
Licensing: Revenue declined 11 percent to $9.3 million.
Playboy has been hard-pressed the last year to find bright spots in its results. The company has seen its print revenue drop as advertisers have fled the medium, and it has struggled to find its footing online as more consumers have turned to free and harder-core adult entertainment.
By Rory Maher