End of Hefner Era at Playboy: Family Sells Shares for $35 Million (AVN)

Read the full article by Michael French at AVN.com

Hugh Hefner, the iconic founder of the Playboy magazine and entertainment empire, died on September 27, 2017, at the age of 91—but the Hefner era lived on as his family maintained control of about one-third of the company shares. But no more. According to a report by the entertainment news site The Blast, the Hugh Hefner Trust, which held the shares, has agreed to sell them for a price of $35 million.

The cash will be divided among Hefner’s four children and his widow, former Playboy Playmate Crystal Harris, who married Hefner in 2012.

The sale is divided into two phases, according to The Blast report—a sale of 800,000 shares for a $15 million price tag, with another million shares held in an escrow account until they are paid off with a $20 million loan.

The buyer is Icon Acquisition Holdings, the company that purchased control of Playboy from Hefner in 2011. But Hefner remained with the company as editor-in-chief of Playboymagazine, which he founded in 1953, using a $1,000 loan from his mother.