Adult magazine Penthouse will end its US print edition after 50 years. Parent company FriendFinder Networks Inc. said the magazine will henceforth be released in online-only format and that subscriptions would be converted to digital.
The magazine division, which operated out of New York, will move to the company's Los Angeles-based office.
Besides publishing Penthouse, FriendFinder Networks operates a number of adult-oriented social networking sites including AdultFriendFinder.com, Amigos.com, AsiaFriendFinder.com and SeniorFriendFinder.com.
Bob Guccione began publication of Penthouse in Britain in 1965 and four years later in the United States, earning him a fortune estimated at $400 million at one point with a more explicit alternative to Hugh Hefner's Playboy.
But as the Internet became dominant in porn, Penthouse publisher General Media Inc., which was 85 percent owned by Guccione, filed for bankruptcy in 2003, which led to its acquisition by FriendFinder Networks.
Correction: Reports of the demise of the print edition were incorrect
24th January 2016. See article from money.cnn.com
Thanks to Sabreman64
Several news outlets reported late last week that the porn magazine Penthouse was shuttering its print operations to go all-digital.
Penthouse managing director Kelly Holland says none of it is true.
Yes, Penthouse is launching a new digital format, an upgrade to its current web offerings. And it is true that the magazine laid off all of the more than 20 employees in its New York City offices last week as it relocates to Los Angeles. But Holland
insists that nobody at the company said that Penthouse will do away with print. S he told CNNMoney:
One news outlet picks it up and gets it wrong. Then everyone picks it up and gets it wrong.
The tsunami of misinformation, as Holland put it, stems from what she concedes was a possibly weakly crafted press release. The press release title stated, PENTHOUSE MAGAZINE GOES DIGITAL! It went on to explain that the publication
will be released in digital format and that future issues of the magazine will be available electronically through subscription. Nowhere in the release does it say the magazine is ceasing publication of its print edition.
Perhaps the press release should have said, 'Penthouse launches a digital platform in conjunction with its print publication,' she added.
