Hefner taking Playboy private

Hugh Hefner, whose Playboy magazine first exposed many Americansto the possibilities of sexual freedom during the 1950s, is takingthe bunny private.

Playboy Enterprises Inc, the publisher known for its bunny earsand nude centrefolds, plans to go private in a deal that values thecompany at $207 million. The owner of rival Penthouse magazineearlier offered a higher bid.

Hefner, 84, pictured, founded Playboy with $600 in 1953 when hepublished the first edition of Playboy magazine, featuring apartially nude photograph of Marilyn Monroe.

Playboy has been publicly traded since 1971, and its investors,including Hefner, have seen the company's stock price fall in recentyears as people turn from magazines to the internet for freepictures of naked women and pornography.

As recently as 1999, its shares were trading at more than $30before falling to less than $2 in early 2009 during the financialcrisis. Icon Acquisition Holdings LP, which Hefner controls, plansto buy Playboy's shares along with Rizvi Traverse Management LLC.Playboy is about $115 million in debt.