Playboy posts quarterly loss, shares drop

[ckramer]

Source: yn

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Adult entertainment publisher Playboy Enterprises Inc posted a quarterly loss on Tuesday because of weaker publishing and domestic television revenue and forecast more trouble during the year, pushing its shares down 8 percent.

The worse-than-expected results illustrate the trouble that Playboy and other publishers and television companies face as more people get their entertainment online, and often for free.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080506/media_nm/playboy_dc_1

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Youporn beats Playboy?

What's going on?

[happyslug]

1. The Economy is getting bad, people are cutting back on "luxuries"

And any magazine, Time, Newsweek, and even Playboy is a "Luxury" and the among the first things cut when things get tight. Advertisers go to magazines based on sales of that Magazine, less sells, less Advertisers are willing to pay, so even more lost revenue.

I would like to say it was a decision to hold women in higher status then a sex object, but I am afraid it is more to do with lost income do to the higher price of Gasoline and Food then any increase in morality.

[JI7]

2. didn''t the military ban these type of magazines for soldiers

[Prophet 451]

10. Not yet

Some deranged fundie outfit is trying to ban them from being sold on army bases but it hasn't yet happened.

And if it does happen, I'm going to personally start mailing skin mags to squaddies in Iraq.

[RantinRavin]

13. No, they have not banned the soldiers from having them

They are debating preventing them from being sold on base, but nothing will prevent the soldiers from buying them off base.

[Warpy]

3. Subscriptions for both the magazine and TV have got to be down

along with money for all their little tchotchkes. People who are having trouble putting gas in the car and food on the table are just going to keep referring to favorite back issues instead of buying new ones or watching a paid subscription channel on TV.

If the Playboy logo key chain breaks, they'll use an old shoelace.

Things are tough all over. We've finally got the endgame going of depressed wages combining with crippling debt and double digit inflation about to shut down the whole consumer economy.

The GOP must be so proud!

[Sherman A1]

11. Precisely

This is another indication of people finding ways to economize on their entertainment and all entertainment is a luxury (just some more than others).

[Sabriel]

4. Shrinking base indicates a downward trend. n/t

[Prophet 451]

9. Not necessarily

In a declining economy, luxuries (such as magazines) are always the first things to be discarded and a bad quarter or two isn't always an indicator anyway. That said, if it continues past next quarter, they really will be in trouble.

[girl gone mad]

5. I think it's a good thing.

It's probably better for pornography to be free than for corporations to exploit young people for profit.

I don't know how they've survived this long, honestly.

[Fumesucker]

6. Corporations exploit *everyone* for profit.. n/t

[Prophet 451]

8. There was no other option

It's only in the last few years that people have created free porn. Before, if you wanted porn, you had to pay for it and most of it was fairly similar (i.e. Playboy's "Bunnies" tend to be all of a type).

Now, much of it is available for free online, much of it far more interesting artistically (yeah, ok, most guys don't think like that but I do) and much of it self-produced by the women in question (which removes any question of exploitation).

[Frank Cannon]

7. If you're paying to see pictures of naked women...

[shenmue]

12. Maybe people realize how pitiful it is...

to pay to j*rk off.

[liberal N proud]

14. It is pure economics

People can see for free what they used to have to pay Playboy for.

[pepperbear]

15. what they're not telling you is how much the internet porn biz is blowing up...

if playboy were smart, they would figure out a new way to exploit the web.

[LucyParsons]

16. Good.

Too bad this just means more men will be searching the internet for their women-exploiting fetish. At least Hefner's "girls" were paid reasonably well.

:/