The newly renamed Playboy Inc. announced this month it would become the latest company to uproot from California and take its business to friendlier turf.
The lifestyle brand most known for its signature Playboy Magazine and iconic bunny logo plans to relocate its corporate operations to Miami Beach. The company, formed in 1953, has called its office in a Wilshire Boulevard tower in Westwood its home since 2018.
The announcement shortly followed the revelation by Playboy President and Chief Executive Ben Kohn, during a quarterly earnings call, that the company was exploring a hospitality venue in Miami Beach. In subsequent statements to media, Kohn labeled California as “anti-business” and prohibitively expensive.
“We are excited to move the company to the city of Miami Beach, which has been phenomenal to deal with, very pro-business,” he said in statements. “When you look at the cost of doing business in California against the cost of doing business in Florida, and you combine that with the energy of Miami Beach, it made all the sense in the world for Playboy to move there.”
Representatives with Playboy did not respond to additional comment requests.
The relocation brings something of a reunion between the Playboy brand and South Florida. Its second Playboy Club was opened in Miami and Miami Beach once hosted a Playboy Plaza hotel.
The new headquarters will take the penthouse on a luxury office building, tentatively sometime next year. The new Playboy Club will include a restaurant, multimedia studio and members-only space, according to the Miami Herald.
The Herald also reported that Miami Beach officials had spent a better part of the year courting Kohn and Playboy’s board of directors, and that multiple other South Florida cities were in the mix.
Flurry of activity
This year is shaping up to be a banner one for Playboy.
After a five-year hiatus, the magazine returned in print form this spring, to such success that the company pivoted from plans of a single annual publication to a quarterly schedule. In June, the company formally moved on from PLBY Group Inc. to its current more recognizable name.
Financials are also improving.
Australian lingerie brand Honey Birdette, which Playboy acquired in 2021 and was prepared to discontinue last year, saw a dramatic turnaround in sales and was retained this year. And the second quarter saw revenue of $28.1 million – a year-over-year improvement by 13% – while its net loss dropped to $7.7 million, an improvement from $9 million.
“We also have in excess of $30 million in cash, as of today,” Kohn added. “With our strong financial performance and improving credit markets, we will opportunistically continue to look for ways to deleverage our balance sheet and reduce the cost of our leverage. I am increasingly optimistic about the future of Playboy.”
Investors, however, took the announcement with some hesitation. Share prices had climbed from $1.63 to $1.82 in the wake of the company’s second-quarter earnings report. Since then, after announcing the headquarters move, it fell right back to $1.64 a week later. That said, prices remain well above the 59 cents it was trading for a year ago.
