The New Penthouse Letters: HR Exec Files FriendFinder Suit

FriendFinder Networks, the publisher of Penthouse and operator of adult-classifieds websites, is facing a sexy legal scandal. A former top executive who went public with her grievances has now filed a lawsuit. More »

Penthouse Magazine Closing? CEO Says No, COO Says Yes

Internet porn has devastated old-fashioned smut rags. We now hear a top executive at FriendFinder Networks, the publisher of Penthouse, wants to close the money-losing magazine down. But his boss denies it. More »

FriendFinder's Latest Scandal Sexier Than a Penthouse Letter

A porn star draping boobs over an employee's head. Lapdances on the company dime. $50 million in back taxes. These are just some of the charges Penthouse publisher FriendFinder Networks is facing from an ex-employee. More »

FriendFinder employees tiring of abusive relationship

More bad news from the slave galley otherwise known as FriendFinder Networks, the renamed Penthouse publisher whose Adult FriendFinder site's ads grace numerous porn sites. The company lost its top sales performer, Greg Chan, to World NetMedia, proprietor of surging competitor Fling.com. He probably wasn't very happy working with marketing VP Charlyn McNamara. To get a sense of McNamara's management style, consider the case of senior sales veteran Sondra Moore: Moore walked into McNarama's office to ask for more challenging work. Most bosses reward employees who show initiative and a willingness to take on more responsibility. McNamara's response? She fired Moore. And it gets worse from there. More »

Penthouse buys Adult FriendFinder

Congratulations, Andrew Conru: Danni Ashe is now your coworker. As the porn-magazine business quietly biodegrades in the ashbin of history, the founder of Adult FriendFinder has sold his company, Various Inc., to Penthouse for $500 million. This despite his earlier denials. The price actually seems low, considering Various's projected revenues this year of $340 million. But the porn business has always suffered from a market discount, as distaste thins the ranks of willing investors. FriendFinder's troubles with the Federal Trade Commission, settled one day before the sale was closed last Friday, can't have helped. What's next for Adult FriendFinder's new owner? More »

Did Andrew Conru sell Adult FriendFinder for $100 million?

Andrew Conru is the accidental porn baron, the mild-mannered geek who found himself running a massive X-rated classifieds website, Adult FriendFinder, from sedate Palo Alto. Rumor has it that he just sold the site, one of his many properties, for $100 million. Michael Arrington reports that he may have sold his company, Various Inc., for $1 billion. A nice headline, but we doubt it. What Conru has said in the past is that he wants to take Various public. The Adult FriendFinder site, however, has been a sticking point for investment bankers, who don't want to try to sell porn to the investing public. For Conru's ambitions, divesting Adult FriendFinder would make perfect sense, since the rest of Various — which includes much more respectable sites like BigChurch — could then IPO to cash in on the social-networking craze.