"Exploit" is the right word

Last week, I blogged on a "very successful business;" now we turn to other financial accolades:

"I think the company has a fantastic brand and I think there's a tremendous opportunity to exploit that brand across multiple platforms, particularly on the location-based entertainment side," said RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank. "The challenge is to rightsize the other businesses, which aren't really growth businesses."

The "fantastic brand" would be Hugh Hefner's glossy girlie magazines, which have been hit hard by the internet.

Adult entertainment publisher Playboy Enterprises Inc posted a quarterly loss on Tuesday because of weaker publishing and domestic television revenue and forecast more trouble during the year, pushing its shares down 8 percent.

Ironically, Hefner and associates see this as being a victim of their own success. Pornography is so now entrenched in western culture that it is one of the largest staples on web servers worldwide, offering up woman flesh for free. How can you compete with that?

"This will be a transitional year as we are still in the investment stage of the retooling process, and results won't be apparent until year-end at the earliest," Hefner said.

Transition from vice to virtue is not an option; rather, Hugh needs to create a market where more money flows from the lust that has always paid his mortgage. Time to roll up the sleeves of that silk bathrobe and lay the lash on something other than his stable of women. They've done their part admirably.

UPDATE: Seems those closest to HH personally are finding disappointment unrelated to the above-mentioned declining revenue:

Since she first laid eyes on the Playboy mogul in 2001, Hugh Hefner's "lead" girlfriend Holly Madison has made it no secret that she wants to get hitched to the 82-year-old. But it seems the busty blonde is starting to give up on her dream. “We are no closer to getting married than we were years ago,” a dejected Holly told Tarts at last week’s “Playmate of the Year” luncheon held at the iconic Mansion. “It’s like a car stalled at the side of the road.”

Marriage is not on his horizon, leading two of his other, um, major squeezes to consider moving on as well.

Speaking of endings, could his other two “Girls Next Door,” Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson, also be getting ready to move on? “My goal is to be hosting my own show and be happily married with children, so I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately,” Bridget said.

Kendra added that her future plans also involve motherhood and marriage while at the same time she aspires to build up her brand name, so with her own label Kdub clothing ready to launch, it seems she’s well on the way to independence.

Who knew marriage was so attractive, even to those in such corners of civilisation? God bless them with their future plans, and may He draw them all closer to true love. [And no, I don't spend all my free time on gossip columns; but you simply have to admit that this is riveting stuff!]