Hugh Hefner could lose control of Playboy a magazine he started more than 50 years ago. He made an offer to take Playboy Enterprises Inc. private but he had a competing bid on Monday from the owner of Penthouse magazine.
Playboy said Monday that Hefner has lined up backing from a little-known private equity firm, Rizvi Traverse Management LLC to buy the shares of his empire that he does not already own and take the company private in a deal that values the organization at $185 million.
Unfortunately for Hef he's got some competition! CEO of Penthouse and FriendFinder, Mark Bell, is planning on making a formal bid.
In his letter to Playboy's board of directors, Hefner said he has no plans to sell his shares or the company. He rebuffed any suggestion that there should be a merger between Playboy and other potential bidders.
Hefner only owns 4 million of the companys' 33.6 million shares of stock. So there is a good chance that Hefner could lose control of Playboy.
