Posts tagged Penthouse

Porn Industry Suffers in Economic Downturn – DailyFinance

Jan 8th

Posted by admin in Erotica

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LAS VEGAS - JANUARY 09: Adult film actress Gi...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

At the Adult Entertainment Expo four years ago this month, I passed through the security checkpoint at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas — and was struck by the sheer volume of people. The porn industry’s annual convention had packed more than 30,000 attendees into two exhibit halls. It was nearly impossible to move around, or have a conversation, let alone interview a company executive. But as I pushed through the crowded aisles between elaborate displays, I could feel the energy pulsing through the room.

This conference, held every year concurrently with the Consumer Electronics Show, is where the adult-entertainment industry goes to work: cutting deals, announcing new talent and products, and setting the tone for an exciting and lucrative new year — not to mention fueling their adrenaline and desires with alcohol and blackjack.

A Quick Decline

In 2006, porn was reaching new heights. DVD sales had hit nearly $4.3 billion for the year just ended, according to Adult Video News; online was good for another $1.5 billion (and hadn’t begun to cannibalize video sales yet). But two years later, AEE was almost unimaginably different. Despite the increased elbow room, the conference had both a smaller crowd and fewer exhibitors. A few major players, like Penthouse, skipped out on what had always been the industry’s biggest event of the year.

via Porn Industry Suffers in Economic Downturn – DailyFinance.

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Lawsuits: FriendFinder’s Latest Scandal Sexier Than a Penthouse Letter – Gawker

Feb 26th

Posted by admin in Internet

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Penthouse (magazine)
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A porn star draping boobs over an employee’s head. Lapdances on the company dime. $50 million in back taxes. These are just some of the charges Penthouse publisher FriendFinder Networks is facing from an ex-employee.

Natalie Cedeno, the company’s former HR director, says that company executives retaliated against her for pointing out violations of labor laws. She was a top executive at the Internet side of the business, deeply involved in its operations for eight years, before FriendFinder fired her without cause in January, she says. She claims the company then tried to withhold the two years of pay she was owed under her contract unless she agreed to stay silent about FriendFinder’s misdeeds — a move her lawyer characterizes as “extortion.” Cedeno plans to file complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing next month.

And a juicy complaint it will be. FriendFinder Networks used to be called Penthouse Media Group before it acquired Various Inc., the operator of Adult FriendFinder and other online personals sites, in 2007 for $500 million. While they’re both porn companies, the office cultures of Florida-based Penthouse and Silicon Valley-based Various Inc. — where Cedeno worked before the merger — couldn’t have been more different. That became obvious on May 2, 2008, when the ex-Penthouse executives, now in charge of the combined business, decided to ship in a passel of Penthouse Pets to the old Various offices.

via Lawsuits: FriendFinder’s Latest Scandal Sexier Than a Penthouse Letter.

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Penthouse Magazine Firm Planning to Offer Shares – NYTimes.com

Dec 25th

Posted by admin in Erotica

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Marketers like to say that sex sells. FriendFinder Networks, in search of cash to pay off nearly $400 million in debt, is going to test that proposition.

FriendFinder, which operates a group of sex-oriented social networking sites and owns Penthouse magazine, is trying to sell up to $460 million in stock to investors in one of the most challenging markets ever for initial public offerings.

According to a prospectus filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company, based in Boca Raton, Fla., has violated the terms of its debt agreements and may not be able to remain in business unless it raises money through the initial public offering or some other method.

Penthouse Magazine Firm Planning to Offer Shares – NYTimes.com.

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