Playboy magazine might be gone for good later this year.
The managing partner at the firm Rizvi Traverse—which is the company’s controlling share-holder—told The Wall Street Journal that following the death of its founder, Hugh Hefner last year, the company might be dramatically changing directions.
Ben Kohn told WSJ, “We plan to spend 2018 transitioning it from a media business to a brand-management company … I’m not sure that print is necessarily the best way to communicate to our consumer going forward.”
Essentially, they would start focusing on creating bars and nightclubs and licensing their brand.
The pornographic magazine was first published in 1953 and has been in circulation ever since. It’s also struggled with its identity. In 2016, they announced that the magazine would no longer feature nudity, though a year later, they walked back that decision, and again featured photos of nude women.
