From www.chicagobusiness.com- Playboy Enterprises Inc., famous for bare-skinned centerfolds, may need to throw open its own kimono.

Shrinking magazine and programming sales have trimmed revenue at the Chicago-based porn purveyor, and last week it was put on notice that its stock could be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because its market value had dropped below $75 million.

But a look inside the company’s books shows that founder and Editor-in-Chief Hugh Hefner may be sitting on assets worth at least that much. Chief among them: the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, which alone could be worth $35 million. Add to that a collection of original artwork, the internationally recognized bunny icon and a Web site with 6 million unique viewers each month, and it seems the company could be worth more broken up than it is in one piece.

Of course, the company is unlikely to sell many of those assets — especially the mansion, where Mr. Hefner lives. He also owns 70% of Playboy’s common stock, notes Jeff Bode, a Chicago-based money manager at Segall Bryant & Hamill.

“They are not selling the mansion unless Hefner says they can sell,” Mr. Bode says.

But recently there have been signs of change at the company. In December, Playboy announced that Christie Hefner, its longtime CEO and Mr. Hefner’s daughter, was resigning. In February, the company announced a $145.7-million fourth-quarter loss after accounting for impairments in the value of ill-timed TV acquisitions in the 1990s.

Asked if Playboy was more open to a sale now that there is no longer a Hefner in charge, interim CEO Jerome Kern replied: “Yes. We’re willing to listen.” A spokeswoman says the comment doesn’t represent a shift in stance. But shares have risen 58% to $2.45 since then.

The mansion — where Mr. Hefner lives with his girlfriends, the three blond Playmates who star in the reality show “The Girls Next Door” — was purchased for $1.1 million in 1971 and is carried on the books at $1.3 million despite $14.3 million in renovations. One Playboy investor says he estimates the mansion could fetch at least $35 million. For comparison, Mr. Hefner and ex-wife Kimberley (1989’s Playmate of the Year), listed their smaller mansion next door — set on less than half the acreage of the big mansion — for $28 million earlier this year.

The company also owns 5,000 works of original art and 15 million photographs, according to a spokeswoman. The art collection, which includes memorabilia like bunny outfits, isn’t valued on the balance sheet because the pieces were expensed when they were used. But the company has sold artwork from time to time over the years, most notably auctioning 300 items at Christie’s in 2003 for a total of $2.8 million. Items sold then include an original manuscript by Jack Kerouac and Mr. Hefner’s limousine.

The same investor who values the mansion at $35 million puts a similar price on the art collection.

The company also had about $31 million in cash as of Dec. 31 and debt of about $52 million.