Playboy Coming to Play

Playboy Enterprise is exploring the option to go public through a SPAC merger.

"Playboy is working with an investment bank to engage in discussions with a potential SPAC buyer, the sources said. A deal, if one is reached, would give Playboy access to money it needs to finance growth initiatives that it otherwise might not be able to tap, one of the sources said. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential."

• Joshua Franklin and Mike Spector of Reuters write.

Playboy's print sales have fallen faster than the panties of a Dutch hooker, and the pandemic has not helped. A dip into the SPAC fever might just do the trick to get them the money they need, or more realistically- want. Don't get too excited, as close sources have said no deal may happen. Whatever, that just sounds like a very obvious statement to make. Stupid bears, don't they know all SPAC plays to go up? Playboy Chief Executive Ben Kohn and Rizvi Traverse Chief Investment Officer Suhail Rizvi did not immediately respond to requests for comments. Suhail Rizvi is the guru who bought into Twitter with a 17.9% shareholder stake when it first IPO'd. The man is a schemer who brings the deep-pocketed boys to the yard. He even got Ashton Kutcher to invest in one of his Twitter-related funds.

Recently, Playboy has grown from its media business and has chosen to go more towards a lifestyle brand. To be honest, the last time I touched a Playboy magazine was when I moved it out of the way for my Fantasy Football cheat sheets at a 7-11 10 years ago. Not sure who actually does look at those magazines, but hey, if Suhail can pull this off and we can bank, I'll wear bunny ears myself dammit.