Playboy May End Its Print Magazine

It’s been a rough couple of years for Playboy Magazine.

First, in 2015, the famous publication decided to stop using nude pictorials. Then, less than a year after reviving nudity in its signature photo spreads, the magazine lost its founder, Hugh Hefner, in September 2017. Now Playboy’s print magazine may become a relic of porn past, relegated to the same heap of old-time curios like peepshow booths and reel-to-reel stag movies. Reports say that the magazine may cease publication sometime in 2018.

The company has returned to the line of thinking that made them remove nudity in the first place: establishing Playboy as a brand beyond the reaches of a mere lad magazine.“We want to focus on what we call the ‘World of Playboy’ which is so much larger than a small, legacy print publication,” current Playboy CEO Ben Kohn told the Wall Street Journal. “We plan to spend 2018 transitioning it from a media business to a brand-management company.”

The deal struck in 2011 to sustain Playboy Magazine foretold its eventual fate. The terms of the agreement, forged by private equity firm Rizvi Traverse, saw that Playboy would become a private company but that the print magazine would remain in existence only while Hugh Hefner was still alive. Nevertheless, it may to be too early to start closing the coffin lid on the magazine the helped spark the sexual revolution. Penthouse was also subject to rumors that it was shuttering its print publication in 2016, before revamping under the direction of Kelly Holland.

Porn fans need not fear, though! Adult Empire still has an enormous warehouse loaded to the gills with physical media for your buying and viewing pleasure (just ask Dr. Chauntelle).