Sex sells, but less than before
The downturn has been hard on smut vendors and strippers.

Playboy, that iconic purveyor of bunnies, hasn’t flashed its fourth-quarter results yet, but the writing is on the wall. Last week, Hugh Hefner’s company announced job cuts. More ominously, it is writing down at least $100 million in assets.

This is troubling because under accounting rules, companies must take assets off the books when they are deemed worthless because they won’t produce revenue. So Playboy is “telling you what financial performance will look like for the next year,” and it is saying it’s going to be bad, says one analyst who follows the company.  Read more... (373 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)