Playboy Losing Its Pants, Intends To Save Print Business By Increasing Prices

The clock's ticking for Playboy, folks. During an earnings call earlier today, Playboy Enterprises ' interim CEO Jerome Kern (who replaced Hugh Hefner's daughter Christie after she stepped down last December) didn't really have any uplifting news to share. The publishing company reported a $13.7 million net loss during the first quarter of 2009, more than 3 times the loss it took during the same period in 2008 ($4.2 million). Athough, we should note Kern indicated that the loss includes $8.7 million of "impairment and restructuring charges". In October 2008, Playboy laid off over a quarter of its workforce, axed its DVD business and its New York office and consequently merged its print and online operations to reduce costs significantly.