Playboy Merges With Mountain Crest For $381M To Go Public
- Playboy Enterprise is set to become a publicly-traded company.
- Mountain Crest Acquisition Group purchased Playboy for $381 million.
- The company is looking to purchase into gaming properties, leading to a possible increase in Playboy Casinos.
NEW YORK – Playboy Enterprise has been officially acquired by Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. and has made the necessary steps to become a publicly-traded company. The price tag of the pair’s merger was a hefty $381 million.
With Mountain Crest and Playboy coming together, the popular magazine, TV, entertainment, and casino company can apply to become public on the NASDAQ.
Playboy and Mountain crest announced the definitive purchase agreement with investors, listing $50 million of common stock for purchase at $10 per share.
Playboy Casino Expansion?
Where this is big news for the gaming world is the Playboy Casino in Atlantic City.
The legal casino is powered by Scientific Games and Microgaming, and with the merger, gamblers may see this expanded to multiple markets.
“In Gaming, our casino-style digital gaming products with Scientific Games and Microgaming continue to see significant global growth,” said Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy. Our product strategy is informed by years of consumer data as we actively expand from a purely licensing model into owning and operating key high-growth product lines focused on driving profitability and consumer lifetime value. We are thrilled about the future of Playboy. Our foundation has been set to drive further growth and margin, and with the committed capital from this transaction and our more than $180M in NOLs, we will take advantage of the opportunity in front of us, building to our goal of $100M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025.”
Playboy has been dabbling in the legal gambling market for decades, opening its first-ever casino in London in 1966.
The Playboy Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City followed, opening its doors in 1981 offering a 21-story tower with 500 rooms and a vast selection of casino gaming for gamblers in the Garden State.
Although the Playboy Hotel and Casino would change owners over time and ultimately close down in 1999, then named Trump world’s Fair, there is a lot of optimism for the future of Playboy in gambling with the company going public.
“Playboy is a unique and compelling investment opportunity, with one of the world’s largest and most recognized brands, its proven consumer affinity and spend, and its enormous future growth potential in its four product segments and new and existing geographic regions,” said Dr. Suying Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. “I am thrilled to be partnering with Ben and his exceptional team to bring his vision to fruition.”
Playboy is still in the early stages of the process to go public. Gambling fans across the country will have to wait and see what the bunny has next up it sleave in the gaming world.