Judge Grants Hefner Trustee Petition to Sell Stock Back to Playboy

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - In what an attorney called "the end of an era,” a judge today granted a petition filed by the trustee of Hugh Hefner's trust to sell back stock the late magazine publisher once held to Playboy Enterprises Inc.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel Juarez found trustee Michael Whalen's petition to be in order. Hefner created the trust in May 1991.

"It's the end of an era,” Whalen's lawyer, Adam Streisand, said after the brief hearing.

No opposition was filed in response to Whalen's petition, and several Hefner family members signed declarations in support of it, including his widow, Crystal; his daughter, Christie; and sons Cooper, David and Marston.

Hefner founded Playboy magazine in 1953 and built the company into one of the most recognizable American global brands. He died last Sept. 27 from natural causes at his Holmby Hills home, known worldwide as the Playboy Mansion. He was 91.

After serving in the Army, attending college and working for several years in the magazine publishing industry, Hefner became convinced that there was a market for an upscale men's magazine.

Hefner put up his furniture as collateral for a loan and borrowed the rest from family and friends. He published the first issue of Playboy in December 1953, working from his kitchen table.

Photo: Getty Images


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