from www.abcnews.go.com – A Playboy Enterprises Inc. director has resigned, according to a securities filing, saying he no longer has time to serve on the company’s board.

Russ Pillar, a managing director at the investment firm 5850 Group, told the company he was resigning on Thursday. He has served on the Playboy board since 2003.

He told the company he is “no longer able to make the time commitment he believes is needed to adequately serve the company’s interests and that his decision was not a result of any disagreement with the company,” Playboy Enterprises said in the filing.

The move comes as Playboy’s board is considering dueling buyout offers from founder Hugh Hefner and the owner of Penthouse magazine.

Hefner is proposing to take Playboy private with the help of private equity firm Rizvi Traverse Management LLC in a deal that would value the company at about $185 million.

Penthouse owner FriendFinder Networks Inc. has offered to buy the company for $210 million but will have to get Hefner to go along. Hefner, at 84, is still editor-in-chief at Playboy and holds nearly 70 percent of the company’s voting stock.

Pillar’s resignation leaves the company with five independent directors. Playboy said in the filing it has no plans to replace him “in the near term.”

CHICAGO — A class-action suit filed at Cook County Chancery Court alleges that Hugh Hefner and investment banker Rizvi Traverse Management’s bid for Playboy at $5.50 a share is too low and that the company would be breaching its shareholder fiduciary duties if the adult giant is sold for an equivalent $185 million.

The suit names Playboy Enterprises Inc. and Rizvi Traverse as well as Playboy board members. It seeks an order to rescind the proposed acquisition.

The suit said that the company has admitted that it has been “truly an empire ruled by one man” and that “until recently, [Playboy] had fallen upon hard times, positioned as a magazine-driven company in an Internet age.”

The suit also said that Playboy had “embarked on a plan to restructure Playboy by transitioning it to a brand management company.”

“Time is of the essence,” the suit said,” as Hefner and the [Playboy] board work towards consummating the proposed acquisition at a fire-sale price while blocking all other competing non-Hefner driven bids.”