CHICAGO — Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI) (NYSE: PLA, PLAA) today announced a change in management of itsbusiness operations into two major functions: media, which will oversee the creation and distribution of all content, and licensing, which will be responsible for leveraging the company’s brands and assets. The companyalso said Bob Meyers will join the company in the newly created position of president, media, which will manage PEI’s Publishing and Entertainment Groups. Alex Vaickus will continue in his role as president, LicensingGroup.
Meyers, 51, has spent his entire career in the media industry, serving most recently as executive vice president of digital media, data and video at Westwood One. He previously spent nine years at NBC Universal, where heheld a number of positions with CNBC and NBC Interactive, including chief operating officer of CNBC.com, senior vice president of primetime programming at CNBC and, most recently, general manager of CNBC Enterprises. Prior to that, he spent eight years with Viacom, Inc., primarily in planning and development roles for the company’s televisionand cable businesses.
A graduate of Tufts University, Meyers received his MBA from Columbia Business School. He serves as a director of DoubleClick, Inc.
PEI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Christie Hefner said: “With the accelerating pace of change in the media business, we were particularly pleased to find an executive whose breadth of expertise includes bothtelevision and online and who has both operating and development experience. The global popularity of the Playboy brand and Playboy-style content creates significant opportunities for us in terms of both the creation of cross- platform initiatives and the integration of content assets. We believe that Bob can contribute meaningfully to our digitalgrowth prospects. “Licensing remains the other major growth opportunity. Under Alex’s direction, it has become our fastest-growing and highest-margin profit center and we are pleased with the continued growth of our merchandising and retail businesses as well as the excitement being created by the opening next month of our first location-based entertainment venue, which is based at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas,” Hefner said.
The company said that Meyers and Vaickus both will report to Hefner. Meyers, who joins PEI on September 18, will split his time between the company’s Los Angeles and New York offices.
“I am very excited about working for a company with such a powerful global brand and mix of successful and fast-growing media businesses,” said Meyers. “The strong connection that Playboy magazine has forged withconsumers creates significant opportunities to reach and interact with audiences across a range of other media platforms. I look forward to being a part of this growth story.”