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PLBY Group reported first-quarter 2026 results showing revenue growth alongside a narrower loss, as management said its strategy to focus Playboy on licensing, media and experiences, hospitality, and Honey Birdette is starting to produce results.
On the company’s earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Ben Kohn said consolidated revenue increased to approximately $30.2 million from $28.9 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $5 million, up 111% from the prior-year period, marking the company’s fifth consecutive quarter of positive Adjusted EBITDA. Excluding litigation expenses, Adjusted EBITDA would have been approximately $5.8 million.
Management described the quarter as “visible execution” across four pillars, citing revenue growth, the closing of the UTG transaction, and continued double-digit growth at Honey Birdette.
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Marc Crossman said Honey Birdette net revenue grew 15.4% year over year to $18.8 million, supported by double-digit comparable store growth across every region. The lingerie brand has delivered six consecutive quarters of double-digit brick-and-mortar comparable store sales growth and four consecutive quarters of combined brick-and-mortar and online comparable store sales growth.
Crossman said full-price sales increased 23% from the prior year. Kohn said Valentine’s Day 2026 was Honey Birdette’s strongest to date, with a multi-piece full-price set strategy driving record average order value weeks. The Honey Club loyalty program, launched in mid-October, surpassed 110,000 members.
Kohn said the U.S. is now Honey Birdette’s largest market. Crossman added that U.S. stores are running at approximately twice the sales productivity of the rest of the store portfolio and approximately three times the per-store profitability, with four-wall margins of about 40% in the quarter.
Management said it plans to open five new Honey Birdette stores in top-tier U.S. malls over the next 12 months. Crossman said the company is underwriting new U.S. stores at about $1,500 per square foot in productivity, with an all-in build-out cost of about $500,000 before tenant improvements, $30,000 to $40,000 in pre-opening expenses, and approximately $35,000 of inventory. Kohn said that compares with a prior cost of about $900,000 to open a store.
Licensing revenue was $10.9 million in the quarter, slightly below the prior-year period. Crossman said the decline reflected the company’s decision to reposition its licensing strategy toward “fewer and bigger deals.” The company allowed certain legacy licenses to expire, partially offset by five new licensing deals in apparel, sleepwear, direct-to-retail and headwear across North America, EMEA and APAC.
Kohn said the company is terminating or not renewing licensees that do not fit its broader plan, describing the decisions as driven by long-term brand health rather than underperformance. He said some prior deals were smaller or “off-brand.”
“We are one brand, which is Playboy, and we have to make sure that what we do on the editorial side aligns with what we do on the licensing side,” Kohn said.
Crossman said the company did not sign new deals in China during negotiations with UTG. He added that the ByteDance strategic partnership contributed $5 million of digital licensing revenue in the quarter, consistent with its contractual minimum guarantee.
PLBY Group closed the UTG China transaction during the quarter and used initial proceeds to pay down $15 million of debt. Crossman said total debt was $144.9 million at quarter-end, down from $159.9 million at the end of 2025. Total cash, including restricted cash, was approximately $34.7 million.
Kohn said the company plans to reduce debt further by nearly $37 million from future UTG payments, which he said would bring net debt “well below $100 million.”
During the question-and-answer portion of the call, Kohn said UTG is “off to a good start” and is working with existing partners to ensure a smooth transition. He also said the company is making progress on recovering a litigation award in China, with UTG helping begin enforcement action against Playboy’s former partner.
Kohn highlighted new leadership hires, including David Miller as President of Media and Brand and Phillip Picardi as Chief Brand Officer and Editor-in-Chief. He said Miller has taken direct ownership of Playboy’s consumer-facing platform, website, media and experiences business, while Picardi is reshaping the brand’s editorial voice.
Kohn pointed to the Spring 2026 magazine, featuring Karol G on the cover, as an example of Playboy’s renewed cultural relevance. He said the issue generated more than 3 billion media impressions, more than 40 million video views across social platforms, and earned media value in the tens of millions of dollars. He added that two more major celebrity covers are lined up for 2026.
The company also launched a preliminary subscription offering for digital and print content. Kohn said the print magazine sold out online within the first day and that newsstand sell-through was strong. He said early results from both the magazine and Playmate content are encouraging, particularly in driving users toward paid digital experiences.
Management also highlighted Playboy’s paid voting contests as a growing part of its media and audience strategy. Kohn said the company’s first paid voting contest, The Great Playmate Search, drew more than 1.7 million votes from more than 17,000 contestants. A new contest, a collaboration between Playboy and Honey Birdette, is underway and is on track to exceed 30,000 contestants.
Kohn said the winner of the current contest will become the face of a global advertising campaign, be featured in the Playboy quarterly magazine, and receive a $100,000 prize. He described paid voting as potentially generating “millions and millions of dollars a year” in revenue and said the contests are highly profitable while also serving as a top-of-funnel tool for collecting audience data and marketing subscriptions and memberships.
For the quarter, PLBY Group reported a net loss of $4 million, or $0.03 per share, including $3.5 million of transaction expenses related to the UTG deal. This compared with a net loss of $9 million, or $0.10 per share, in the first quarter of 2025.
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