YNOT – Playboy Enterprises Inc., which in December announced it would move its editorial operations from its traditional headquarters in Chicago to Los Angeles, earlier this month revealed the entire company will end its longstanding relationship with the Windy City on April 30.
Born in Hugh Hefner’s South Side apartment in 1953, the multinational, multimedia Playboy empire maintained its corporate headquarters on two floors at 680 N. Lake Shore Drive in Chicago even after Hefner moved to Los Angeles in 1975 and opened a film and TV division there.
By mid-January, Playboy had reduced its Chicago-based corporate and editorial staffs to fewer than 100 of the roughly 200 people the company employed there in 2010. Some, but not all, of the remaining employees will relocate to the West Coast.
“Some of the magazine’s Chicago employees have been asked to relocate, while others have been asked to stay on in Chicago to ensure a seamless transition,” Vice President of Public Relations Theresa M. Hennessey said in a prepared statement. “Open key positions will be hired out of Los Angeles.”
Hennessey indicated those who will remain in Chicago “to ensure a seamless transition” include members of the company’s human resources, legal and accounting staffs, but she declined to specify how many people the group encompassed.
