Cooper Hefner | |
---|---|
Born | Cooper Bradford Hefner September 4, 1991 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Education | Chapman University |
Occupation | Businessman |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | |
Children | 3 |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Christie Hefner (half-sister) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service | United States Air Force |
Years of service | 2019–present |
Awards | United States Air & Space Commendation Medal |
Cooper Bradford Hefner (born September 4, 1991) is an American businessman. [1] [2] He is currently the Managing Partner of Hefner Capital. [3] He has worked as the chief creative officer and chief of global partnerships at Playboy Enterprises, a company founded by his father Hugh Hefner. [4] [5] He was also the founder and initial chief executive officer of the startup company Hop. [6]
Hefner was born on September 4, 1991, in Los Angeles, California, to Hugh Hefner (1926–2017) and Kimberley Conrad. [7] [8] He grew up in a mansion adjacent to the Playboy Mansion, which was purchased by his father after his parents separated. [9] Hefner graduated from Ojai Valley School in 2009 and received a bachelor's degree from Chapman University in 2015. [10] [11]
Hefner started working for Playboy Enterprises, Inc. when he was in college. [12] In early 2016, Hefner, who was a board observer at the time, left the company due to disagreements with then CEO Scott Flanders about the direction the company was taking. [10] Hefner then began editing, writing and publishing op-eds, which centered on politics, culture and philosophy. [7]
In 2016, Hefner launched the media startup company Hop (Hefner Operations & Productions) focused on content and social events for millennials. [13] Hefner returned to Playboy and was named chief creative officer of the company in July 2016 when Hugh Hefner stepped down from that post. [5] [7] In February 2017, Hefner announced nude images would return to the magazine stating that the problem had been the presentation of nude images rather than the nudity itself. [10] Hefner also oversaw the decision to feature Playboy's first transgender playmate in the centerfold for its November issue. [14]
Playboy's earnings for 2017 increased by more than 39 percent year-over-year following Hefner's return to the company. [15] In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported the controlling shareholder of Playboy Enterprises was considering ending the U.S. print edition of Playboy Magazine, stating the magazine has lost as much as $7 million annually in recent years. [16] Hefner has been recognized on The Folio: 100 list for 2017 for his contributions to the magazine media industry as well as appearing on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2018. [15] [17]
In January 2019, Hefner took over as the chief of global partnerships for Playboy Enterprises. In that position, he would focus on revenue and business development over content and media management. [18] [19] In April 2019, Playboy Enterprises CEO Ben Kohn confirmed Hefner would exit his senior role at Playboy to launch a media brand, the Hefner Media Corporation, and a digital content platform called HefPost. [20] Later, through an Instagram account after having left Playboy, in July 2019 Hefner stated his new digital content platform would be called instead StagDaily. [21] [22]
In December 2019, Hefner halted plans to start a media company and digital content platform, and chose instead to enlist in the United States Air Force. [23] Hefner was previously a member of the California State Military Reserve. [24] Hefner was deployed stateside to New Jersey's Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst for Operation Allies Welcome, which supported resettlement of approximately 130,000 refugees airlifted from Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal in 2021. [25]
In October 2024, Hefner offered $100 million through his firm Hefner Capital to purchase Playboy with the parent company PLBY Group’s shares having declined roughly 99% from a high of $57.70 in May 2021. PLBY, which had reported a decline in revenue, said in August that it is re-launching Playboy magazine as an annual edition, as of February 2025. [26]
In 2015, Hefner became engaged to British actress Scarlett Byrne, best known for her role as student Pansy Parkinson in the Harry Potter series. [8] On November 4, 2019, Hefner and Byrne announced that they had married. [21] On August 24, 2020, Byrne gave birth to their first daughter. [27] On March 26, 2022, she gave birth to twin daughters. [28]
Hefner is a teacher at Chapman University, where he also serves on the board of governors. [29] [30]
Hefner considered running for Congress in California's 37th congressional district in 2016. [11] In July 2020, Hefner announced his campaign as a Democrat for the California Senate in 2022, in the state's 30th District, but suspended it four months later. [31] [32]
Hugh Marston Hefner was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles. Hefner extended the Playboy brand into a world network of Playboy Clubs. He also resided in luxury mansions where Playboy Playmates shared his wild partying life, fueling media interest.
Playboy is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and online since 2020. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
The Playboy Mansion, also known as the Playboy Mansion West, is the former home of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner, who lived there from 1971 until his death in 2017. Barbi Benton convinced Hefner to buy the home located in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, near Beverly Hills. From the 1970s onward, the mansion became the location of lavish parties held by Hefner which were often attended by celebrities and socialites. It is currently owned by Daren Metropoulos, the son of billionaire investor Dean Metropoulos, and is used for corporate activities. It also serves as a location for television production, magazine photography, charitable events, and civic functions.
Christie Ann Hefner is an American businesswoman. She was chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises from 1988 to 2009, and is the daughter of Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner.
PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the Playboy magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
Hef or HEF may refer to:
Barbi Benton is an American former model, actress, television personality, and singer. She appeared in Playboy magazine, as a regular on the comedy series Hee Haw, and recorded several moderately successful albums in the 1970s. After the birth of her first child in 1986, Benton retired from show business.
Playboy is a men's magazine.
Holly Madison is an American television personality, best known as a former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner and for her appearance in the reality television show The Girls Next Door. She also starred in her own reality series, Holly's World, which ran from 2009 to 2011. She has released two books, Down the Rabbit Hole in 2015, about her life in the Playboy Mansion and her relationship with Hefner, and The Vegas Diaries: Romance, Rolling the Dice, and the Road to Reinvention in 2016.
The Girls Next Door is a reality television series which focuses on the lives of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends who live with him at the Playboy Mansion. The series was created by executive producer Kevin Burns and Hefner, founder of Playboy magazine. The series premiered on the E! cable network on August 7, 2005 and ran for 6 seasons. The first five seasons centered around then-girlfriends, Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson. The sixth and final season premiered on October 11, 2009 and introduced Hefner's new girlfriends, Crystal Harris, who eventually went on to marry Hefner, and twins Kristina and Karissa Shannon.
Oui was a men's adult pornographic magazine published in the United States and featuring explicit nude photographs of models, with full page pin-ups, centerfolds, interviews and other articles, and cartoons. Oui ceased publication in 2007.
Victor Aubrey Lownes III was an executive for HMH Publishing Company Inc., later known as Playboy Enterprises, from 1955 through the early 1980s. Soon after he met Hugh Hefner in 1954, Hefner founded Playboy magazine, and Lownes eventually joined his publishing company, serving as vice president. Lownes was a close confidant of Hefner and gained a reputation for dating Playboy Playmates.
Sondra Theodore is an American model and actress. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its July 1977 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Ken Marcus. Her Playmate pictorial was the first to include the Data Sheets that Playmates had been filling out since 1959.
Kendra Leigh Wilkinson is an American television personality and real estate agent. She first gained recognition as one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends and for her role on the E! reality television series The Girls Next Door (2005–2009), on which her life in the Playboy Mansion was documented. Although not a Playboy Playmate, she has appeared in three nude pictorials with her Girls Next Door co-stars Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt. She subsequently starred in her own reality shows, Kendra (2009–2011) and Kendra on Top (2012–2017).
Crystal Hefner is an American model who was the Playboy Playmate of the Month for December 2009, and the third wife of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner from December 2012 until his death in September 2017.
Scarlett Hannah Hefner is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Slytherin student Pansy Parkinson in the Harry Potter series, and as Nora Hildegard in The Vampire Diaries.
Devassa is a brand of beer based in Brazil made by Brasil Kirin under license from the U.S. company Playboy.
Mark Frazier is an American born artist, painter, body painter and photographer. His work has been seen in film, television, private collections and print.