Playboy Enterprises Inc. has named Bob Meyers to the newly created position of president, media, which will manage PEI’s Publishing and Entertainment Groups. Meyers is replacing Jim Griffith, the former president of Playboy Entertainment Group who is no longer with the company.
The company today also announced the creation of two separate units, Media, which will oversee the creation and distribution of all content, and Licensing, which will be responsible for leveraging Playboy’s brands and assets.
Alex Vaickus will continue in his role as president, Licensing Group.
“With the accelerating pace of change in the media business, we were particularly pleased to find an executive whose breadth of expertise includes both television and online and who has both operating and development experience,” said Playboy’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Christie Hefner in a statement.
“The global popularity of the Playboy brand and Playboy-style content creates significant opportunities for us in terms of both the creation of cross- platform initiatives and the integration of content assets. We believe that Bob can contribute meaningfully to our digital growth prospects.
“Licensing remains the other major growth opportunity. Under Alex’s direction, it has become our fastest-growing and highest-margin profit center and we are pleased with the continued growth of our merchandising and retail businesses as well as the excitement being created by the opening next month of our first location-based entertainment venue, which is based at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas,” Hefner said.
Meyers, 51, served most recently served as executive vice president of digital media, data and video at Westwood One. He had spent nine years at NBC Universal, serving at CNBC and NBC Interactive, including as chief operating officer at CNBC.com, senior vice president of primetime programming at CNBC and, most recently, general manager of CNBC Enterprises.
He had previously spent eight years with Viacom, Inc., primarily in planning and development roles for the company’s television and cable businesses.
