Playboy To College Kids: We Want You

Hugh Hefner's Empire Launching A Students-Only Social Networking Site

(CBS)  The Playboy bunnies have a message for college students returning to campus this fall: We want you.

Riding a wave of renewed popularity among consumers around the globe, Hugh Hefner's Playboy empire is set to launch a sexy social networking site dedicated solely to college students, its latest online venture as it tries to reinvigorate its stagnant finances.

The launch of Playboy U, which has similar features to those found on Facebook, comes as Playboy's 54-year-old magazine continues to lose money and readers.

To compensate, Chicago-based Playboy Enterprises Inc. is embarking on a one of its biggest expansion efforts in years.

"This is one brand that is relevant to 18 through 81-year-olds," said Scott Stephen, executive vice president of operations for Playboy's entertainment division. "We're looking at this as a way to introduce and escort someone through their adult life."

Playboy has cozied up to collegians before, featuring parties, promotional events and pictorials of student bodies from across the country. Now, executives hope Playboy U will help build brand loyalty among young consumers.

Backed by a hit cable TV show featuring Hefner's three girlfriends, a Sirius radio channel and the adoration of young Hollywood stars again flocking to parties at the Playboy mansion, the company is trying to grow its licensing business and online presence and build an international fan base that includes a surprising legion of female fans.

Thanks in part to those initiatives, Playboy is gradually returning to profitability after years of operating in the red.

Last year the company eked out a $2.3 million profit, its second-best since posting a $47.6 million loss in 2000. So far this year, Playboy has earned $5.7 million.

But growth has been slow as Playboy wrestles with other struggling units, like its domestic television business that's facing increasing competition and losing favor to other video-on-demand offerings. (Playboy executives said they're working to stabilize the TV unit by offering their own on-demand lineup.)

"They definitely haven't had the blowout kind of success that you would expect a big brand like Playboy to have," said Rick Munarriz, a senior analyst with the investment advisory service The Motley Fool. "The brand seems to be having some kind of renaissance around the world yet, financially speaking, it's not really contributing to the top and bottom line."

The latest statistics compiled by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show the magazine's average paid circulation has fallen to just under 2.9 million readers, less than half of the 6.25 million readers who bought the magazine during its heyday in 1974. During the first six months of the fiscal year, the magazine unit lost $4.7 million, 15 percent more than it lost during the same period last year.

Playboy executives said there are no plans to eliminate the publication, even as the company turns its attention to other parts of the bunny empire that include Playboy-themed casinos, clubs and apparel. Next month, Playboy will open its ninth retail store, stocking jeans, jewelry, T-shirts and cosmetics.

[hawksprings]

And this is Sci-Tech news how??

...

[tnt1954]

the many for the one is passe''. one for
the many is more normal. more sane. so that
the many may live on. some are asked to
sacrifice their entire being on the altar
of love, as they do every day. everyones woman
still loves only me. what is mine? a mine
in space? ready to blow anytime. a life
so fleeting, it cannot be caught. from nothing
back to nothing for no reason at all, what
a strange teaching to swallow against my will.
origin of space? beyond the end of forever.
reasoning why, not just to do and dye. generation
y. a fork in the road, go right, go left,
stay and camp at still point or back to the
mud hut. fairy tale the flounder.

[uhf62]

ncolsens

You really don''t have any idea at all just what naturism is all about.OF COURSE we wear clothes most of the time in our home.As a family we celebrate the human body as a gift of nature that shouldnt be covered 24/7 with clothes.
Our 2 children were raised with a healthy appreciation for their bodies.My wife and I have no problem if they sunbathe nude or swim nude in our pool in our backyard with their friend who are also nude for they are fellow naturist.
We attend naturists house parties and go on vacations with our many friend where nobody wears clothes and it is no different than any other house parties or vacations except that we feel more comfortable without clothes.

By the way,if you think we are hippy freeks think again my wife is a meteorologist I am a science researcher,our son graduated from college with a degree is business,our daughter graduates next year and to become an engineer.
We are a nromal American family who happen to enjoy naturism.

[keithle1]

I love the expressions of the girls in the photo.

"Last year the company eked out a $2.3 million profit" Whew. Pretty pathetic. Hardly worth staying in business. Barely pay for a pair of Hef''s pajamas.

Can''t imagine anyone subscribing to PLAYBOY.
I never see anyone buying it at newsstands. The women are too airbrushed & fake. Seen one blonde you''ve seen ''em all. They all think they''re the sexiest thing on planet earth.

That TV show with his three girlfriends makes me ill. Stupid, silly girly girls on an eternal all-expenses paid slumber party. Hef wandering around like someone''s grandfather. How old is he now. Pushing 80?

uhf62 sooo......you all sit around the dinner table and eat in the nude? ya''ll sick!!

[uhf62]

My daughter who is now 24 and in college now has alway wanted to pose in Playboy,she has the full support of both myself and my wife.We has a family believe that nudity is beautiful and is to be praised and not put down.All of us,our son included are naturists.being nude at the beach or at home is a normal thing for us.

[olebd]

I guess they figure since Joe Francis is in jail, they''ll swoop in and start their own Girls Gone Wild type franchise. I smell future lawsuits. All a college gal has to do is have second thoughts. Fake ID''s anyone?

[mitywhity]

When will the perverted curmudgeon Hefner finally croak?