Playboy To Sublease Space In Streeterville HQ
CHICAGO (CBS) - Playboy Enterprises Inc. plans to sublease a portion of its headquarters on the 15th and 16th floors the stately old building at 680 N. Lake Shore Drive, the company confirmed on Wednesday.
"The space is bigger than what we need right now," said spokeswoman Martha Lindeman.
The company occupies 96,000 square feet of space in the Streeterville building.
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Playboy has leased space in the building, originally called the American Furniture Mart and now named Lake Shore Place, since 1989.
This year, Playboy has cut its workforce by 10 percent from a year ago and has 245 employees working in Lake Shore Place. Playboy's total employee count of 530 is down from 679 at the end of 2008, amid cost cuts and falling revenue. Playboy's revenue fell to $240 million in 2009 from $340 million in 2008, though its net loss improved to $51 million in 2009 from $160 million in 2008.
Playboy also has expanded its licensing deals and is opening new Playboy clubs to increase its revenue base.
The board of directors is weighing an offer by founder Hugh Hefner to take the company private. Hefner is proposing to pay $123 million for the shares he doesn't already own.
A rival offer was also issued over the summer by FriendFinder Networks, the corporate parent of Penthouse Magazine.
Hefner founded Playboy in Chicago in 1953, and produced the first issue in the kitchen of his Hyde Park neighborhood home. Hefner went on to turn the publication and its nude models and centerfolds into a cultural mainstay.
In addition to its namesake magazine, the Playboy empire also includes the Playboy TV and Spice cable channels, several Playboy Web sites, and other divisions. The company also once ran 40 Playboy Clubs, including the original club at 116 E. Walton St. But the only Playboy Club now in business is at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
The Chicago Sun-Times contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire
