Playboy Reports Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results

Rhea-AI Summary

Playboy (NASDAQ: PLBY) reported strong Q2 2025 financial results, with revenue reaching $28.1 million, up 13% year-over-year. The company significantly improved its financial performance, reducing net loss to $7.7 million from $16.7 million in Q2 2024 and achieving Adjusted EBITDA of $3.5 million, a $6.4 million improvement.

Key highlights include a 105% increase in licensing revenue to $10.9 million and strong performance from Honey Birdette, which saw a 14% revenue increase and 28% growth in same-store sales. The company's transformation to an asset-light business model focused on the iconic Playboy brand is showing positive results, with new partnerships in gaming, beauty, and grooming. Additionally, Playboy has launched new growth initiatives in content and hospitality, including the Great Playmate Search and plans for a Miami Beach venue.

Positive

• None.

Negative

• Net loss of $7.7 million in Q2 2025
• $1.9 million in impairment charges related to office sublease
• $2.1 million one-time settlement for licensing agent commissions
• $1.3 million in incremental litigation costs from former licensees

Insights

Financial Analyst

Playboy shows positive transformation with doubling licensing revenue and improved EBITDA despite ongoing losses.

Playboy's Q2 2025 results reveal a company in transition making tangible progress toward its asset-light business model. Revenue increased 13% year-over-year to $28.1 million, with licensing revenue showing remarkable 105% growth to $10.9 million. The $7.7 million net loss represents a substantial $9 million improvement from Q2 2024, while Adjusted EBITDA turned positive at $3.5 million – a $6.4 million improvement.

Honey Birdette continues to be a bright spot with 14% revenue growth, 28% same-store sales increase, and 200 basis point gross margin improvement to 59%. This retail strength coupled with rapidly growing high-margin licensing revenue demonstrates the company's strategy gaining traction.

The transformation isn't without costs – $1.9 million in impairment charges for office subleasing and $2.1 million for licensing agent settlement affected the bottom line. Without these one-time items, net loss would have been just $3.7 million.

With $30+ million cash on hand, management signals potential deleveraging opportunities as credit markets improve. The pivot to content and hospitality with initiatives like the Great Playmate Search and Miami Beach venue planning suggests additional revenue streams developing. The company's strategic shift toward leveraging its iconic brand through licensing deals appears to be working, as reflected in the doubling of licensing revenue and growing pipeline of new partners in strategic categories including gaming, beauty, and grooming.

Q2 Revenue of $28.1 Million, up 13% Year-over-Year;
Net Loss of $7.7 Million, an Improvement of $9.0 Million;
Adjusted EBITDA of $3.5 Million, an Improvement of $6.4 Million

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Playboy, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLBY) (the “Company” or “Playboy”), one of the most recognizable and iconic lifestyle brands in the world, today announced financial and operational results for its second fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2025.

Comments from Ben Kohn, Chief Executive Officer and President of Playboy

“Playboy’s improving performance, especially in the second quarter, is starting to reflect our transformation to an asset-light business model focused on the iconic Playboy brand. We significantly reduced net loss and improved adjusted EBITDA to $3.5 million, which was burdened by an incremental $1.3 million of litigation costs related to two former licensees; excluding those, adjusted EBITDA would have been $4.8 million. In addition, licensing revenue in Q2 more than doubled year-over-year, and our pipeline is strong and growing with new partners in strategic categories, including two new deals in gaming and one in beauty and grooming. Simultaneously, Honey Birdette continued to improve its operating metrics in Q2, highlighted by revenue expanding 14%, same-store sales increasing 28% and gross margins improving approximately 200 basis points to 59%.”

“In addition to these positive financial results, we have set the stage for new growth opportunities centered around content and hospitality. We launched the Great Playmate Search, a paid fan-voting contest for a Playmate of the Month and the inside cover model for the March 2026 issue of Playboy, with registration off to a great start. Further, we have begun planning a Playboy hospitality venue in Miami Beach, and have interest for Playboy hospitality in other cities. We also have in excess of $30 million in cash, as of today. With our strong financial performance and improving credit markets, we will opportunistically continue to look for ways to deleverage our balance sheet and reduce the cost of our leverage. I am increasingly optimistic about the future of Playboy.”

Second Quarter 2025 Results

Total revenue was $28.1 million, compared to $24.9 million in Q2 2024, reflecting a year-over-year increase of almost $3.3 million, or 13%. The increase was due to a 105% increase in licensing revenue, which more than offset the loss of revenue from Playboy’s legacy digital business, and a 14% increase in revenue from Honey Birdette.

Licensing revenue was $10.9 million, compared to $5.3 million in Q2 2024, reflecting a year-over-year increase of $5.6 million, or 105%. The increase was due to $5 million in minimum guaranteed royalties, higher revenue from new licensing partners and renegotiated minimum guarantees pursuant to renewal agreements with existing licensees. The Company’s prior year “Digital Subscriptions and Content” results were recast under “All Other” in the Company’s financial statements.

Direct-to-consumer revenue was $16.5 million, compared to $14.5 million in Q2 2024, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 14%. The increase was due to continued improvement in consumer perception of the Honey Birdette brand, which resulted in increased sales of both full-price and discounted products. Honey Birdette margins increased from 57% to 59%. Comparable store sales were up 28% and promotional days were reduced a further 40% in a continued initiative to improve the perception of the brand.

Net loss was $7.7 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $16.7 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, in Q2 2024. The net loss for Q2 2025 included $1.9 million in impairment charges related to the sublease of the Company’s Los Angeles office and relevant fixed assets and $2.1 million related to a one-time settlement of present and future licensing agent commissions. In the aggregate, those reflected $0.04 in earnings per share. Absent those non-operational charges, net loss would have been $3.7 million and earnings per share would have been $(0.04).

Adjusted EBITDA was $3.5 million, compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $2.9 million in Q2 2024.

Webcast Details & Stockholder Letter

The Company will host a webcast at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time today to discuss Q2 2025 financial results. Participants may access the live webcast on the Events & Presentations section of the Playboy Investor Relations website at https://investors.playboy.com/investors. Investors may also access the letter to Playboy stockholders that was posted today to the Events & Presentations section of the Playboy Investor Relations website.

About Playboy, Inc.

Playboy is one of the most recognizable brands in the world, synonymous with pleasure, leisure, style, and sophistication. In collaboration with leading licensees, Playboy connects consumers with products, content and experiences across approximately 180 countries. Our mission—to create a culture where all people can pursue pleasure—builds upon over 70 years of creating groundbreaking media and hospitality experiences and fighting for cultural progress rooted in the core values of equality, freedom of expression and the idea that pleasure is a fundamental human right. Learn more at https://investors.playboy.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company’s actual results may differ from their expectations, estimates, and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as “expect”, “estimate”, “project”, “budget”, “forecast”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “plan”, “may”, “will”, “could”, “should”, “believes”, “predicts”, “potential”, “continue”, and similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s expectations with respect to future performance, growth plans and anticipated financial impacts of its strategic opportunities and corporate transactions.

These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the inability to maintain the listing of the Company’s shares of common stock on Nasdaq; (2) the risk that the Company’s completed or proposed transactions disrupt the Company’s current plans and/or operations, including the risk that the Company does not complete any such proposed transactions or achieve the expected benefits from any transactions; (3) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of corporate transactions, commercial collaborations, commercialization of digital assets, cost reduction initiatives and proposed transactions, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the Company to grow and manage growth profitably, and the Company’s ability to retain its key employees; (4) costs related to being a public company, corporate transactions, commercial collaborations and proposed transactions; (5) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (6) the possibility that the Company may be adversely affected by global hostilities, supply chain delays, inflation, interest rates, tariffs, foreign currency exchange rates or other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; (7) risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information of the Company, including changes in the Company’s estimates of cash flows and the fair value of certain of its intangible assets, including goodwill; (8) risks related to the organic and inorganic growth of the Company’s businesses, and the timing of expected business milestones; (9) changing demand or shopping patterns for the Company’s products and services; (10) failure of licensees, suppliers or other third-parties to fulfill their obligations to the Company; (11) the Company’s ability to comply with the terms of its indebtedness and other obligations; (12) changes in financing markets or the inability of the Company to obtain financing on attractive terms; and (13) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K, including those under “Risk Factors” therein, and in the Company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive, and readers should not place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date which they were made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Contact:
Investors: FNK IR – Rob Fink / Matt Chesler, CFA – investors@playboy.com
Media: press@playboy.com

Playboy, Inc. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) (in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
		Three Months Ended June 30,								Six Months Ended June 30,
			2025				2024				2025				2024
Net revenues		$	28,148			$	24,885			$	57,023			$	53,204
Costs and expenses:
Cost of sales			(9,739	)			(8,018	)			(18,792	)			(20,525	)
Selling and administrative expenses			(22,366	)			(25,489	)			(47,763	)			(47,801	)
Impairments			(1,541	)			(599	)			(1,842	)			(3,016	)
Other operating (expense) income, net			(385	)			18				(769	)			18
Total operating expense			(34,031	)			(34,088	)			(69,166	)			(71,324	)
Operating loss			(5,883	)			(9,203	)			(12,143	)			(18,120	)
Nonoperating (expense) income:
Interest expense, net			(1,907	)			(6,588	)			(3,795	)			(13,015	)
Other income (expense), net			1,000				(245	)			1,202				(295	)
Total nonoperating expense			(907	)			(6,833	)			(2,593	)			(13,310	)
Loss before income taxes			(6,790	)			(16,036	)			(14,736	)			(31,430	)
Expense from income taxes			(889	)			(616	)			(1,984	)			(1,669	)
Net loss			(7,679	)			(16,652	)			(16,720	)			(33,099	)
Net loss attributable to Playboy, Inc.		$	(7,679	)		$	(16,652	)		$	(16,720	)		$	(33,099	)
Net loss per share, basic and diluted		$	(0.08	)		$	(0.23	)		$	(0.18	)		$	(0.45	)
Weighted-average shares outstanding, basic and diluted			94,397,910				73,040,566				93,549,044				72,859,533

EBITDA Reconciliation

This release presents the financial measure earnings (net income or loss) before interest, income tax expense or benefit, and depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”). “Adjusted EBITDA” is defined as EBITDA adjusted for stock-based compensation and other special items determined by management. Adjusted EBITDA is intended as a supplemental measure of our performance that is neither required by, nor presented in accordance with, GAAP. We believe that the use of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing our financial measures with those of comparable companies, which may present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors. However, investors should be aware that when evaluating EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, we may incur future expenses similar to those excluded when calculating these measures. In addition, our presentation of these measures should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or nonrecurring items. Our computation of Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures computed by other companies, because not all companies may calculate Adjusted EBITDA in the same fashion.

In addition to adjusting for non-cash stock-based compensation, non-cash charges for the fair value remeasurements of certain liabilities, non-recurring non-cash impairments and asset write-downs, we typically adjust for non-operating expenses and income, such as nonrecurring special projects, including related consulting expenses, transition expenses, settlements, nonrecurring gain or loss on the sale of assets, expenses associated with financing activities, and reorganization and severance expenses that result from the elimination or rightsizing of specific business activities or operations.

Because of these limitations, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA on a supplemental basis. Investors should review the reconciliation of net loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA below and not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

The following table reconciles the Company’s net loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA:

GAAP Net Loss to Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation (in thousands)
	Three Months Ended June 30,								Six Months Ended June 30,
		2025				2024				2025				2024
Net loss	$	(7,679	)		$	(16,652	)		$	(16,720	)		$	(33,099	)
Adjusted for:
Interest expense		1,907				6,588				3,795				13,015
Expense from income taxes		889				616				1,984				1,669
Depreciation and amortization		778				2,511				1,582				4,311
EBITDA		(4,105	)			(6,937	)			(9,359	)			(14,104	)
Adjusted for:
Licensing commissions settlement		2,400				—				2,400				—
Transition expenses		1,170				—				5,000				—
Severance		322				139				2,593				169
Stock-based compensation		1,666				2,005				2,353				3,839
Impairments		1,541				599				1,842				3,016
Adjustments		477				1,258				1,019				1,595
Adjusted EBITDA	$	3,471			$	(2,936	)		$	5,848			$	(5,485	)

FAQ

What were Playboy's (PLBY) Q2 2025 earnings results?

Playboy reported Q2 2025 revenue of $28.1 million (up 13% YoY), a net loss of $7.7 million (improved from $16.7M), and Adjusted EBITDA of $3.5 million.

How much did Playboy's licensing revenue grow in Q2 2025?

Playboy's licensing revenue grew 105% year-over-year to $10.9 million, driven by minimum guaranteed royalties and new licensing partnerships.

What was Honey Birdette's performance in Q2 2025?

Honey Birdette showed strong performance with 14% revenue growth, 28% increase in same-store sales, and margin improvement to 59%.

How much cash does Playboy (PLBY) have as of Q2 2025?

Playboy reported having in excess of $30 million in cash as of the earnings announcement date.

What are Playboy's new growth initiatives for 2025-2026?

Playboy launched the Great Playmate Search contest and is planning a hospitality venue in Miami Beach, with interest for venues in other cities.