Let’s see. Playboy just fired 80 employees so they could hire a big salaried fat cat.

[Mediabistro.com] Playboy Enterprises, Inc., which just laid off 80 people, hired John Lumpkin [pictured] to be its vice president, associate publisher of Playboy Digital.

Lumpkin, who worked at Playboy from 2002-2004 as a sales manager, was most recently at Heavy.com as its senior vice president of sales strategy and partnerships. Lumpkin’s new boss will be familiar: It’s Jimmy Jellinek, who decamped from Heavy.com in August to lead the digital team at Hugh Hefner’s pub.

PEI also announced that Robert Eisenhardt will be promoted to VP, associate publisher of the magazine.

Simming it up

— John Lumpkin Named VP, Associate Publisher for Playboy Digital –

— Robert Eisenhardt Promoted to VP, Associate Publisher for Playboy Magazine —

NEW YORK, NY — John Lumpkin was today named vice president, associate publisher of Playboy Digital, while Robert Eisenhardt was promoted to vice president, associate publisher for Playboy magazine. Both men will be based in PEI’s Publishing Group headquarters in New York and will report to Lou Mohn, publisher and general manager of Playboy magazine.

“Combining Playboy’s publishing and digital groups was a conscious effort to grow our overall audience and to effectively aggregate that audience for our advertising partners,” said Mohn. “John and Rob will work closely together with their teams to create cross-platform sales opportunities and help new and existing advertisers reach the 18-34 year-old male demographic.”

Lumpkin, 32, rejoins Playboy on October 27th after having previously worked for the magazine from 2000-2004 as a sales manager. Most recently, he was senior vice president of sales strategy and partnerships at Heavy.com where he consistently exceeded account forecasts and generated more than $2.5 million in new and category-exclusive business from accounts like Pontiac, Anheuser-Busch, Sony Pictures Classic, Brown-Forman, and Proctor & Gamble. Prior to that, he had served as the publisher of Stuff magazine. In his new role, Lumpkin will head digital sales efforts for both Playboy.com and Playboy Mobile. Lumpkin holds a B.A. in Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. He currently resides in Manhattan.

“While I have previously had a small role in Playboy’s history, I am looking forward to taking on a much larger role in leading the Playboy Digital business into the future,” said Lumpkin. “Playboy has been at the forefront of digital and mobile initiatives for more than 10 years. I look forward to working with Rob and to helping our clients leverage this iconic brand in an effort to meet their goals.”

Eisenhardt, 47, will continue in his role as associate publisher for the magazine, overseeing the national sales efforts for print. Since joining Playboy in May 2006 from PRIMEDIA’s Consumer Automobile Group, Eisenhardt has increased revenue from existing accounts and developed over $3 million in new business in the consumer electronics, gaming, tobacco, OTC pharmaceuticals and fragrance categories, among others. Eisenhardt holds a B.A. in marketing and business management from Kent State University. He resides in New Jersey with his wife and three children.

“Playboy’s editors are consistently finding new ways to integrate both the print and digital content,” said Eisenhardt. “Working with John, we plan to create the most comprehensive, creative and effective programs for our clients.”