Who Owns The Playboy Mansion?

The Playboy Mansion is an infamous house in Los Angeles, California. The 21,987-square-foot home was designed in 1927 by Arthur Kelly as Holmby House for Arthur Letts Jr. Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Enterprises, Inc. acquired the house in 1971 for $1.1 million from Engineer Louis Statham and renamed it The Playboy Mansion.

The Playboy Mansion hosted Hefner’s lavish parties attended by celebrities and socialites. Frequent guests included Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Pauly Shore, and Donald Trump. Several models, dubbed Playmates or Playboy bunnies, were featured on Playboy’s cover and lived at the mansion.

In 2017, Hugh Hefner died at the age of 91. Many former Playboy models and Hefner’s former wives and girlfriends criticized Hefner’s behavior and the mansion’s conditions after his death. [1]

The Playboy Mansion has 29 rooms, with a wine cellar, a screening room, a game room, zoo buildings, a tennis and basketball court, and a swimming pool area. It sits on a 5.3-acre land with a pond, an artificial stream, an orchard, and two fern and redwood forests.

One of the residents was Hugh’s son, Marson Hefner, an OnlyFans creator. In Oct 2023, Marston opened up about his experience at The Playboy Mansion. [2]

The Playboy Mansion sits close to the Los Angeles Country Club, which hosted the 2023 US Open. The mansion’s zoo has several animals, including monkeys, cockatoos, and peacocks. Some golfers have complained about distracting wildlife noises around the 13^th and 14^th greens.

However, the current Playboy Mansion owner is committed to keeping the zoo and the animals under his ownership. But who owns the Playboy Mansion? [3]

Image credit: Les Anderson

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Who is The Playboy Mansion’s Owner?

The Playboy Mansion’s owner is a principal at Metropoulos and Co, a private-equity firm and a billionaire – Daren Metropoulos. Metropoulos co-owned Twinkies maker Hostess Brands, which he sold to Smuckers for $5.6 billion in Sep 2022. Metropoulos bought the Playboy Mansion from Hefner’s Playboy Enterprises in 2016 for $100 million.

Hefner continued living in the house for around a year until he died. The new owner lives next door to the mansion and plans to join the two estates into a combined 7.3-acre compound. [4]

Metropoulos believes the Playboy Mansion’s heritage transcends its celebrity and former owner. He is grateful for the opportunity to serve as the mansion’s steward. The new owner invested $10 million to renovate the house and hired architect-to-the-stars Richard Landry to modernize the property.

In 2020, the construction team started working on the mansion’s roof. The renovation was still far from finished in Nov 2023. [5]

The Playboy Mansion is an iconic house with a long and illustrious history. It has been linked to Hefner’s Playboy Magazine since 1971. In Mar 2023, Playboy Magazine relaunched with its first-ever digital cover.

The racy label’s online publication serves as a creator platform, with Cardi B as the creative director. Amanda Cerny, a former Playmate, graced the brand’s first digital cover. [6]

Image Credit: Rock Staar

The Playboy Mansion’s Ownership History

The Playboy Mansion is synonymous with Playboy’s founder and Editor-in-Chief Hugh Hefner. However, the Los Angeles property wasn’t Hefner’s first Playboy Mansion. In 1953, Hefner founded Playboy in Chicago, Illinois.

He acquired an 1899 brick-and-limestone home in Chicago’s Gold Coast, which became the original Playboy Mansion in 1959. Playboy Enterprises Inc. donated the original Playboy Mansion to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1975 after Hefner relocated to California. [7]

The Playboy Mansion didn’t start life as a party palace for Hefner and his playmates. In 1919, British-born Arthur Letts purchased land in LA and named the site Holmby Hills. Letts died four years later.

His son, Letts Jr., inherited the land and built a 14^th-century Gothic-style house. In 1959, Louis Statham took ownership after Letts Jr. died. Hugh Hefner bought the property in 1971 for $1 million and transformed it into his new Playboy Mansion. [8]

Hugh Hefner didn’t directly own the Playboy Mansion. The name on the property’s title deed was Playboy Enterprises, Inc. Hefner leased the house from the company for $100 yearly. The legendary Playboy Mansion hosted Hollywood’s wildest parties attended by celebrities and dignitaries.

In 2006, Donald Trump shot an episode of “The Apprentice” at the property.

The Playboy lifestyle influenced Hefner’s personal life and relationships. He married thrice, Mildred Williams from 1949-1959, Kimberley Conrad from 1989-2010, and Crystal Hefner from 2012 to his death in 2017.

At 26, Crystal was 60 years younger than her 86-year-old husband. Hefner dated several playmates at the same time. All Hefner’s girlfriends who lived in the mansion received a $1,000 weekly payment and were required to adhere to the curfew disguised as a schedule. [9]

Hefner’s lingerie parties and celebrity guests decreased as the Playboy Mansion owner aged. In 2015, his former girlfriend, Holly Madison, in her memoir stated the strict rules and mental health issues she experienced living in the Playboy Mansion.

Madison dated Hefner from 2001 to 2008 while she was a Playboy Bunny. She opened up about the prevalence of disordered eating in the Playboy Mansion and how her experiences affected her parenting skills. [10]

Hugh Hefner sold the Playboy Mansion to Metropoulos for $100 million. The property was initially listed at $200 million. However, Metropoulos agreed to pay $100 million for Hefner to live out his remaining days in the mansion.

Metropoulos took full ownership of the Playboy Mansion after Hefner’s death in Sep 2017. The new owner invested $10 million in 2020 to revamp the legendary mansion. [11]

Image Credit: Darwin Boaventura

The Playboy Mansion’s Ownership Structure

Daren Metropoulos owns the Playboy Mansion. He is the son of billionaire investor Dean Metropoulos and the principal at Metropoulos & Company, founded in 1993 and based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

In 2009, Daren purchased a house next to the Playboy Mansion from Hefner and his ex-wife Kimberly Conrad for $18 million. He bought the Playboy Mansion from Hugh Hefner for $100 million in 2016 and a five-bedroom, oceanfront home in Miami for $18 million in 2021. [12]

Metropoulos & Co. plans to use the Playboy Mansion for corporate activities after renovating the property. It will also serve as a location for television production, magazine photography, charitable events, and civic functions.

As of Mar 2023, Metropoulos and Co.’s founder and executive chairman, Dean Metropoulos, was #395 on the Forbes 400, with $2.9 billion. [13]

Metropoulos & Co. is a family-owned investment firm. The company acquired and turned around several brands, including Chef Boyardee, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Bumble Bee Tuna, and Hostess Brands.

In Sep 2023, Smucker bought Hostess Brands from Metropoulos and Apollo in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $5.6 billion. Hostess Brands Inc. shareholders received $30 in cash and 0.03002 shares of The JM Smucker Co. stock per share. [14]

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