PLBY Group NASDAQ: PLBY reported first-quarter 2026 revenue growth and a narrower loss as management said its strategy to focus Playboy around licensing, media and experiences, hospitality and Honey Birdette is beginning to show results.
On the company’s earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Ben Kohn said consolidated revenue rose 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.
“Q1 was a quarter of visible execution across all four pillars,” Kohn said in closing remarks, citing revenue growth, the closing of the UTG transaction and continued double-digit growth at Honey Birdette.
Honey Birdette Leads Revenue Growth
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 now 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 its multi-piece full-price set strategy driving record average order value weeks. The Honey Club loyalty program, launched in mid-October, has surpassed 110,000 members.
The U.S. is now Honey Birdette’s largest market, according to Kohn. Crossman said 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 the company plans to open five new Honey Birdette stores in top-tier U.S. malls over the next 12 months. In response to an analyst question, 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 Strategy Shifts Toward Fewer, Larger Partners
Licensing revenue was $10.9 million in the quarter, slightly below the prior-year period. Crossman said the decline was consistent with 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 also terminating or not renewing licensees that do not fit its broader plan. He said the decisions were driven by long-term brand health rather than underperformance, adding that 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. The ByteDance strategic partnership contributed $5 million of digital licensing revenue in the quarter, consistent with its contractual minimum guarantee.
UTG Transaction Supports Debt Reduction
The company 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 has been 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.
Media Relaunch Drives Audience and Subscriptions
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 a key 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 the company is seeing encouraging early results from both the magazine and Playmate content being used to drive users toward paid digital experiences.
Paid Voting Emerges as Potential Revenue Lever
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, he 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. Kohn said paid voting could become “millions and millions of dollars a year” in revenue and described the contests as highly profitable, while also functioning as a top-of-funnel tool for collecting audience data and marketing subscriptions and memberships.
For the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $4 million, or $0.03 per share, including $3.5 million of transaction expenses related to the UTG deal. That compared with a net loss of $9 million, or $0.10 per share, in the first quarter of 2025.
About PLBY Group NASDAQ: PLBY
PLBY Group, Inc is a global media and lifestyle company best known for its iconic Playboy brand. The company operates across multiple business segments, including consumer products, licensing, subscription commerce, sexual wellness and digital offerings. Through its diversified portfolio, PLBY Group brings its signature aesthetic and brand heritage to categories such as apparel, accessories, gaming, beverages, home goods and intimate lifestyle products.
In the consumer products segment, PLBY Group designs and markets a range of branded goods under licensing agreements with major retailers and distributors worldwide.
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