Chicago (May 8, 2003 14:05) - After four years of being in
the red, Playboy Enterprises
http://www.playboyenterprises.com
, publishers of the magazine Playboy, have managed to make a profit. In
the first quarter of 2003 the profits had registered at US$ 632.000, or
20 cents per share, reported Playboy.
The last time that the company's figures were positive
was in the fourth quarter of 1998. The reason for it s current upsurge
in profits has proven to be the internet.
In the last quarter, a loss of US$9.4m was registered by
the company. The turnover increased from US$66.1m to US$74.3m, an
increase of 12 per cent. The online figures showed that the profit
jumped to a healthy 45 per cent (US$9.24m), which represented a profit
of US$320m (in comparison to a loss of US$3.6m in the previous year).
The success is due to cost cuts and also to the firing of about 40
employees from the online work force. Another reason is the doubling of
the price of the monthly online subscription Cyber Club.
Playboy is expecting a loss in advertising in the print
department during the next quarter.
Internet