Source: Playboy.com, Inc.
(NEW YORK, NY) — Playboy.com, Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: PLA – news), and FOCUS Digital AG (Frankfurt: FOC) have signed a letter of intent to form an online joint venture. The German Playboy site will be the first international joint venture for Playboy.com.
Like top-ranking U.S.-based site Playboy.com, Playboy.de will target the entertainment and lifestyle interests of young men. It will have a local, dedicated editorial staff based in Munich, Germany to create original Playboy-style content, make use of content from the best-selling German Playboy magazine published by Heinrich Bauer Verlag, and translate appropriate U.S.-originated Playboy.com content, including the popular streaming video features and live event coverage. Playboy.de will also link to Focus.de, the most highly trafficked content site in Germany and a division of FOCUS Digital AG, through its entertainment channel.
The site will mirror the multiple revenue stream model of Playboy.com, starting with advertising and the subscription-based Playboy Cyber Club, and then adding the Playboy Store, Playboy Auctions and other e-commerce.
FOCUS Digital AG will fund Playboy.de and will initially have an 80% interest in the joint venture; Playboy.com will initially have a 20% interest.
Christie Hefner, Chairman of Playboy.com, said, “Playboy is one of the few proven global entertainment brands that has the ability to consistently attract men 18-34. We are excited to be launching our global strategy in Germany, a country where our magazine has been a commercial and cultural success for over 25 years, and the fastest-growing Internet market in Europe.”
Lawrence R. Lux, President of Playboy.com, said, “Playboy’s brand power and marketing expertise combined with FOCUS Digital’s extensive experience and leadership in the German market will be enormous assets in the development of Playboy.de. We are excited to have them as our partner. Like our U.S. site, Playboy.de will offer a wide range of content — including love and sex, arts and entertainment, sports, comedy, style and more.”
Jorg Buerosse, chairman of the board of FOCUS Digital AG, said, “Men’s entertainment ranks among the strongest growth segments in the Internet worldwide. We will be able to leverage the globally recognized Playboy brand to create exciting, original entertainment content for German men.”
Subject to satisfactory completion of legal and operational due diligence and customary closing conditions, the deal is expected to close by year-end.
About Playboy.com
Playboy.com; a wholly-owned subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: PLA – news), an international multimedia entertainment company; is the #1 lifestyle and entertainment destination Web site for men. Playboy.com operates Playboy-branded Web sites targeting the entertainment and lifestyle interests of young men, including: Playboy.com ( www.playboy.com ), an advertising and e-commerce-supported Web site that offers a range of entertainment, information and e-commerce; Playboy Cyber Club ( cyber.playboy.com ), a members-only subscription site featuring premium Playboy content and exclusive online events; the Playboy Store ( www.playboystore.com ), which sells Playboy-branded products; and Playboy Auctions ( auctions.playboy.com ), which auctions Playboy-branded merchandise and admission to exclusive Playboy events, and allows fans to auction their own Playboy memorabilia and collectibles. Playboy.com also operates Cyberspice.com ( www.cyberspice.com ), a site featuring premium adult entertainment under the Spice brand.
About FOCUS Digital AG
FOCUS Digital AG, quoted on the “Neuer Markt” section of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since July 13, 2000, is a media company which is comprised of four business divisions with the aim of delivering “more quality for the Internet”: FOCUS Online, one of the leading general interest sites in Germany; Interactive Content Production GmbH (ICP), the ground-breaking specialist for customized content, technology and related services; Interactive Advertising Center (IAC), one of the most successful suppliers of targeted advertising and marketing on the Internet; and Netguide, the innovative guide on the World Wide Web and leading edge technology supplier for high quality portals. In this network, FOCUS Digital combines a high level of Internet expertise (consulting, production, content, community, commerce and online-marketing) with successful brand management. Therefore, FOCUS Digital covers the entire spectrum of added value for Internet publishing, offering its clients a total Internet solution.
This release contains “forward-looking statements” as to expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives and future financial performance, and assumptions underlying or concerning the foregoing. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. The following are some of the important factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements: (1) government actions or initiatives, including (a) attempts to limit or otherwise regulate the sale of adult-oriented materials, including print, video and online materials or businesses such as casino gaming, (b) regulation of the advertisement of tobacco products, or (c) substantive changes in postal regulations or rates, (2) further increases in paper prices, (3) changes in distribution technology and/or unforeseen delays in the implementation of such technology by the cable and satellite industries that might affect the company’s plans and assumptions regarding carriage of its program services, (4) increased competition for advertisers from other publications and media or any significant decrease in spending by advertisers generally or with respect to the adult male market, (5) increased competition for transponders and channel space, and any decline in the company’s access to, and acceptance by, cable and DTH systems, (6) the effects of the consolidation taking place nationally in the single-copy magazine distribution system, (7) marketing issues facing direct marketing stamp sheet agents, (8) new competition in the adult cable television market, (9) uncertainty of market acceptance of the Internet as a medium for information, entertainment, e-commerce and advertising, an increasingly competitive environment for advertising sales, the impact of competition from other content and merchandise providers, as well as the Company’s reliance on third parties for technology and distribution for its online business, and (10) potential adverse effects of unresolved Year 2000 problems including external key suppliers.
