Honey Birdette Sales Drop 21%

Images from the Honey Birdette consumer email marketing program.

Q2 revenue for Playboy-owned lingerie brand “Honey Birdette decreased by $3.8 million, or 21% year-over-year,” as revenue declined and losses continued at the parent company.

Overall, PLBY Group lost $16.652 million on revenues of $24.885 million in the three months ended June 30, compared to a loss of $131.815 million on revenue of $35.101 million in the same period last year.

Playboy blamed the dramatic decline at Honey Birdette, a brand for which they paid over $330 million in cash and stock in mid 2021, as “due largely to an approximately 50% reduction in the number of days on sale as the company focuses on brand health and gross margin.”

In announcing the results, CEO Ben Kohn discussed the resurrection of “Playboy magazine, scheduled to return in early 2025,” saying that it “will serve as a powerful promotional tool for our relaunch, and will feature not only Playmate and celebrity collaborations, but also many iconic franchises such as the Playboy Interview, 20 Questions and the Playboy Advisor,” as well as “the reveal of the 2024 Playmate of the Year in the new magazine.”

The Group also announced it had “secured an agreement with the company’s senior lenders to give it an exclusive period of time to repay its senior debt at a significant discount, subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements relating to the amendment and subsequent refinancing of the company’s senior debt.” And it revealed that it had filed a new prospectus with the SEC which will allow it to “offer its common stock, from time to time, in transactions that are deemed to be “at the market” offerings, not to exceed an aggregate amount of $15 million.”

In discussing the quarter, Playboy reported that overall “direct-to-consumer revenue declined $5.2 million, or 26%, year-over-year, to $14.5 million.” Besides the contraction at Honey Birdette, “revenues from Playboy.com e-commerce declined by $1.4 million, as the company transitioned it from an owned-and-operated model to a licensing model.”

Playboy reported “licensing revenue declined $5.0 million, or 49%, year-over-year, to $5.3 million. The decrease is primarily attributable to China and the termination of two of the company’s three largest licensing agreements in late 2023, which management has already begun to remedy by entering into multiple new licensing agreements in recent months.”

“Digital subscriptions and content revenue was $5.1 million, consistent with the prior year period. An increase in creator platform revenue was offset by a decline in legacy media,” the company concluded.