Hugh Hefner’s son offers $100M to bring Playboy brand back ‘to its roots’

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Cooper Hefner, the youngest son of the late Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, is making a play for the Playboy brand — to the tune of $100 million.

Hefner Capital, his private equity firm, reached out to Playboy’s publicly traded parent company, PLBY Group, on Monday with his bid to acquire the intellectual property and brand assets of the brand.

He told the the Hollywood Reporter (THR) his pursuit of Playboy is “personal.”

“The decision to acquire Playboy’s assets stems from a personal connection and the unique potential to reinvigorate a brand cared for around the world,” Hefner said.

“This effort is about safeguarding a legacy built over decades, ensuring that the creativity, values and cultural relevance that defined Playboy are not lost.”

Hefner previously served as chief creative officer at Playboy Enterprises before he left in 2019 to launch his own digital media platform, Hefner Media Corporation.

The following year, he made a bid for a state senate seat in California, but was unsuccessful.

Now, Hefner is ready to return to the family business, and bring back the brand.

“Playboy Enterprises has a rich history of encouraging personal freedom, critical thinking and playful storytelling,” he told THR.

“While the brand has evolved over time, this acquisition offers a meaningful opportunity to realign it with its core identity while adapting to the expectations of today’s audience.”

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Hugh Hefner founded Playboy magazine in 1953, eventually expanding it into a global phenomenon.

He died on Sept. 27, 2017, at the age of 91.

In 2020, the print edition of the magazine was shuttered, with the company saying it would focus more on Playboy’s digital growth.

However, in an interesting turn of events, PLBY Group announced in August its plans to relaunch the magazine in February 2025, as well its worldwide search for “a new class of Playboy Bunnies” and its Playmate of the Year.

“The new Playboy magazine will feature everything that made the publication iconic: unforgettable photography, renowned features such as the Playboy Interview and Playboy Advisor, celebrity pictorials, and the Playmate Centerfold, which has been a central component of Playboy since its inception,” the company said in a press release.

PLBY Group became a publicly traded company in 2021. It ended last week with a market cap of $53.5 million.