'BangBros' Owner Buys Penthouse Biz For $11.2 Million
By TheBlast Staff on June 5, 2018 at 5:44 AM EDT
Iconic men's magazine and porn empire Penthouse just sold at auction for $11.2 million ... and they're going to need to add some extra parking for the new owner's bus.
A popular porn company in the BangBros network of tube sites – most notably XVideos.com as well as BangBus.com and Camster.com – plunked down millions at a bankruptcy auction on Monday. The official name of the parent company is WGCZ S.R.O.
Bidding started at $3 million and the highly anticipated auction was a who's who of the porn industry. We're told the company outbid Hustler and the parent company of High Times for a final purchase price of $11.2 million.
The Penthouse lot included much, much more than 50 year's worth of porno mags – according to an auction notice, Penthouse brings in roughly $10 million annually between its four divisions: publishing, broadcasting, licensing and digital.
The brand now owns over 2,000 trademarks and copyrights, 50 licensing agreements, over 1,200 film titles including the 1979 cult classic “Caligula” and its copyright and remake rights. They also own several adult channels that raked in $5 million last year and, of course, decades-worth of back issues and its contents.
Penthouse filed for bankruptcy on January 11. We're told the company officially changes hands on June 11.
