Once PLBY Group had its fangs into what used to be the most popular men's magazine in the world, it didn't take long to uncover the true intent of Ben Kohn's corporate takeover.

As is the usual case, PLBY Group, originally a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company), originally called Mountain Crest (MCAC), from the same mold that created Donald Trump's Truth Social and took it public, was only intended to turn Playboy's assets into cash, with a smattering of continuing business operations to appease the unlucky shareholders. Once Hugh Hefner passed away, all pretense was eliminated, the gloves came off and the real strip-mining began.

The route to what is expected to be the eventual bankrupting of the company, PLBY Group, was not designed well. The haphazard approach consisted of making acquisitions and then selling them off for less - usually MUCH less - than what the company paid for them.

These acquisitions included the content management platform, Dream upon which the OnlyFans-type knock-off, centerfold was to be unleashed, fail, and eventually turn back inwards as playboy.com. This particular screw job was paid for with some company stock, an undisclosed amount of cash and lots of hyperbole in 2020. Kohn has since abandoned the "Dream" platform and outsourced management of Playboy's online operations to a third party.

First in the string of fruitless acquisitions was the company called Yandy, which PLBY Group purchased for an undisclosed sum in 2019. The company sold specialty apparel online and seemed, in Kohn's tortured logic, to be a fit for Playboy's re-emergence as a "lifestyle" brand. Yandy was sold in 2023 for roughly $3 million.

Foremost among the Playboy corporate purchases was the buying of retail chain, Honey Birdette for $235 million in cash and 2.16 million shares of BLBY Group stock.

At the time of the purchase in 2021, Honey Birdette had 60 stores, mostly in Australia, offering luxury lingerie along the lines of Victoria's Secret. As of 2024, the company has managed to open two new stores in the United States and close about half the stores (of close to 50 originally) in Australia. 11 stores, mostly in malls located in or near major U.S. cities, continue to operate, though leases aren't being renewed for the vast majority of them as Kohn seeks a buyer.

That a buyer for Honey Birdette will ever emerge is another of Kohn's pipe-dream fantasies sold to shareholders. The company is being liquidated as fast as Kohn's greedy little fingers can let them go, the cash used to pay his exorbitant $2 million salary.

Another of the failed trial balloons sent up by Kohn's team was the 2021 acquisition of Lovers family of stores ("Lovers"), a "leading omni-channel online and brick-and-mortar sexual wellness chain," with 41 stores in five states. Kohn paid $25 million for the chain of stores, expounding in a company press release that the stores would generate $45 million in sales over the following 12 months and contribute $5 million in adjusted EBITDA.

Two years later, Kohn sold Lovers for $13.5 million, solidifying his reputation as a morally-bankrupt shyster.

Lately, Kohn's been busy selling off Hugh Hefner's art collection. A recent (March 28-30) auction at Julien's sold over 400 paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints and collectibles which included a copy of the first issue of Playboy magazine, and works from a diverse collection of artists, ranging from LeRoy Neiman to Joan Miro, Salvadore Dali, Antonio Vargas, and Andy Warhol.

The auction may have netted Kohn's gypsies as much as $2 million, with the top price of $325,000 going for a Pucci dress owned and worn by Marilyn Monroe. Kohn had previously sold Playboy's jet, the "Big Bunny" for $17.5 million in 2022, after buying it for $12 million and doing more than $3 million in renovations. After airport and licensing fees, the deal was likely a wash.

Meanwhile, shares of PLBY Group (PLBY) have been trading for less than $1 on the NASDAQ, falling under the level that is cause for delisting on September 22, 2023. It has briefly traded above $1 from the end of December, 2023 through February, 2024, but, as of April 19, the price was a mere 89 cents.

Another of Kohn's latest ploys was to re-brand the OnlyFans look-alike, centerfold, as playboy.com and re-brand it as the Playboy Club. For $99 a year, members get unlimited access to all the back issues of Playboy, some online access to strippers and other "creators" on the app, and $25 in "Bunny Money" which can be used to purchase Playboy merchandise.

PLBY Group hasn't disclosed how many memberships it has sold since the launch of the "Playboy Club" in January, though, for the price, it's not a bad deal.

Incidentally, Kohn ceased publishing Playboy magazine in print in March, 2020 and online in 2021, blaming, as is usually the case for narcissists, everybody but himself, in this case using COVID as the cause of the magazine's demise.

In recent press releases and conference calls attached to sickening losses in its quarterly reports, Kohn has mentioned a return to publishing Playboy magazine once again.

The kicker to the sordid Playboy dismantling by Kohn and his insider wheeler-dealers is the $50 million deal executed in 2022 that warrants control of the company to holders of senior debt in the event of bankruptcy or that the company cannot continue as a going operation. The senior debt holders would acquire the entire company, leaving common shareholders with nothing.

That's why, with Kohn likely planning a bankruptcy as early as 2026, buying stock in PLBY is a horrible idea. Common shares, already less than $1, will eventually turn to dust. The company is a shell of its former self, kept afloat by some dodgy ongoing operations, promises, and hype. The company does receive royalties from publishers in other countries where the magazine retains some its former flair, but that revenue covers mostly regular expenses and salaries, if that.

For the first time in more than a year, the company turned a profit in the fourth quarter of 2023 after a delayed filing and restatement of prior earnings. The $6.22 million net reported is likely to be a one-off. Imagining this company turning consistent profits under Kohn's sell-it-all philosophy is about as likely to happen as the everyday nerdy millennial bedding down with a real-life Playmate.

The saga will continue, but the ending is likely to be sad. The company continues to carry long-term debt of nearly $200 million. The interest payments alone will contribute greatly to its eventual demise. Kohn has dug a hole from which the company will never emerge.