Playboy Back Behind Closed Doors Where It Belongs

Image by Getty Images via @daylifePlayboy founder and Viagra enthusiast Hugh Hefner plans to dole out $207 million to take the 58-year-old men's magazine private, according to Bloomberg News.

The 84-year-old Hef, who presently holds just shy of 70 percent of Playboy's Class A stock and roughly 28 percent of its Class B stock, will purchase the outstanding stock at $6.15 per share, an 18 percent premium over the Jan. 7 closing price of the Class B stock, Bloomberg reports.  Icon Acquisition Holdings, LP, which Hefner controls, is party to the agreement with Playboy, and has the financial backing of Rizvi Traverse Management, LLC and Jeffries & Co. Playboy's current CEO, Scott Flanders, is expected to retain his position following the transaction.

Hef himself may be holding up, but in recent times, advertising lineage and circulation of Playboy have taken a bunny nose dive. (See "TUOL" posts 4/26/10 & 3/1/10). Playboy debuted in 1953 and went public in 1971.