Playboy posts loss after shedding TV assets

Playboy Enterprises Inc., the men's magazine publisher, reported a third-quarter loss after asset sales cut into revenue and ad sales slipped.

The net loss of $5.2 million, or 15 cents a share, compares with a profit of $2.6 million, or 8 cents, a year earlier, Chicago-based Playboy said today in statement distributed by PR Newswire. Sales fell 15 percent to $70.4 million after Playboy sold a TV studio in April and outsourced online-commerce operations.

The publisher, founded by Hugh Hefner, recorded $6.3 million in charges for restructuring and provisions related to an asset sale. In a regulatory filing last month, the company said it was seeking annual savings of $12 million and announced plans to fire 55 people.

Ad revenue in Playboy's publishing division declined 14 percent to $5.5 million last quarter. The company forecast a 17 percent drop in the current quarter from the year-earlier period. Industrywide, U.S. magazine revenue fell 8.8 percent in the third quarter, after rising 6.1 percent in all of 2007, according to the Magazine Publishers of America.

Playboy, which has plunged 74 percent this year, rose 21 cents to $2.40 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.