International Playboy?

Playboy Enterprises, Inc., whose magazine and pay-per-view tv have been shedding readers and viewers faster than its centerfold models toss off their lingerie, may have found a White Knight to purchase them--English billionaire Richard Branson.

Playboy magazine a part of Virgin Media? You can't make this stuff up. The Chicago Tribune reports that Playboy's stock inflated to $2.98 a share yesterday, more than twice its price in March, based on Branson's rumored interest. The Trib assessed the company's worth at about $100 million, but cited a New York Post story that Playboy was being shopped to a pair of equity firms last week for $300 million.

Thus far, Hugh Hefner, Playboy's 83-year-old Viagra-popping, founder and principal shareholder, has held firm in his refusal to sell. The story will continue to unfold, vertically.