Silke Jasso
Breaking news Playboy bunny fans…it is hopping back into the stock market! Playboy Enterprisejs Inc amounted its merger with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp., which is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC,) or a blank check company, in a deal that is valued at $415 million. The iconic men’s magazine was founded by the legend himself, Hugh Heffner, back in 1953. It stopped printing its quarterly glossy earlier in 2020 after facing financial hurdles.
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The Playboy Enterprises was pulled off the market in 2011 for a whopping $205 million by Hugh Hefner himself, who died in 2017 att the age of 91, and private equity firm Rizvi Traverse. while it was privately owned, the publication began covering street fashion and built out its e-commerce business. Earlier in 2020, Playboy during the first quarter, it acquired online adult apparel and accessory brand Yandy.com.
Return of #Playboy 🐰
The iconic brand is going public via the hot #SPACs trend
Valuing the company at $415 million 📊Remember Playboy stopped printing it's famous glossy magazine of scantily clad women earlier this year!
Magazine was a rite of passage for many teenagers
💄 pic.twitter.com/IARmNyJFGA— Susan Li (@SusanLiTV) October 1, 2020
The brand, which is led by chief executive officer Ben Kohn, is said to focus on “creating a lifestyle of please,” and is aimed to focus on sexual wellness, apparel and style such as lingerie, beauty and grooming, and gaming and lifestyle brand. through a statement, The CEO Ben Kohn noted,
“Our mission – to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure – is rooted in our 67-year history and creates a clear focus for our business and role we play in people’s lives, providing them with the products, services and experiences that create a lifestyle of pleasure,” Kohn said in a statement. We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct-to-consumer capabilities.”
Kohn also stated that Playboy’s e-commerces sales of consumer products, such as accessories and apparel, has seen a surge as a result of the coronavirus pandemic related lockdowns. He noted there was a spike in April and May, stated the company had a new baseline and that it is almost double that what the company had before. He noted, “We are taking this step into the public markets because the committed capital will enable us to accelerate our product development and go-to-market strategies and to more rapidly build our direct-to-consumer capabilities.”
If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention! 🇺🇲 At least you can vote in style. Shop our election apparel and get a free Playboy voter sticker pack 👉 https://t.co/2rHd88DY4V pic.twitter.com/ndtga67pre
— Playboy (@Playboy) September 30, 2020
Sex toys and sex dolls spiked in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, with several sellers seeing an uptick in their consumer demands during the stay at home orders. Big retailer, Adam & Eve, known for selling sex toys among other sexual related products, reported an increase of sales of over 30 percent over 2019 during the high of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. In April, WOW Tech Group, owner of sex toy brands Womanizer and WeVibe stated that its brands went over their month sales projections by more than 40 percent as of March.
Playboy itself has over $400 million in cashflow contracted through the year 2029, and sexual wellness products available for online sale and in more than 10,000 major retail stores around the United States, in addition to a variety of branded lifestyle and digital gaming products and clothing. Once the deal closes, Mountain Crest will trade on Nasdaq under the new ticker “PLBY.” Founder Hugh Hefner and Marilyn Monroe would be proud!
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