- The red-hot market for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, has piqued interest in Playboy as it monetizes its vast collection of nude centerfolds and artwork.
- Playboy, which went private in 2011 amid declining ad sales from its eponymous nude magazine, rejoined the public markets in February via a SPAC.
- Playboy and Nifty Gateway, a platform for the sale and purchase of NFTs, will work together to create original artwork based on the magazine’s art.
- Playboy’s stock is up 83% this month alone and 173% since the end of February.
These days, announcing a new investment in a legacy media business is enough to draw a raised eyebrow.
That is, of course, unless the company is reinvented nude magazine publisher Playboy — now PL-BY Group
— whose stock has surged more than 80% this month due in large part to excitement over how it can take advantage of the hot NFT market.
And Playboy certainly has unique offerings.
“Look, we have an unbelievable archive, 68 years. It is the 5,000 pieces of art we have, it’s covers, it’s photography. It is so deep and rich in what’s in there,” CEO Ben Kohn said on the company’s earnings call last month.
Playboy, which went private in 2011 amid declining ad sales from its eponymous nude magazine, rejoined the public markets in February with a management laser-focused on modernizing a company once known for its leading market share of pubescent closets.
The shift away from magazine publishing and toward a brand centered on lifestyle and sexual wellness is encapsulated in two recent business deals.
The first is Playboy’s $25 million purchase of TLA Acquisition Corp, a firm that sells sex toys, vibrators and lingerie through a subsidiary chain called Lovers.
But the second, a partnership with online NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway, is what has the company’s investors most excited.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are a type of digital asset that results from using the technology that powers cryptocurrency to make a unique token with its own identification that cannot be replicated.
In practice, they act as a sort-of deed proving ownership for original editions of digital artifacts, including works of art, sports collectibles or music albums