Hugh Hefners Net Worth: How did Hugh Hefner Earn His Fortune?

Posted by Fernande Dalal on Monday, May 6, 2024

A couple of weeks ago, A&E’s new docuseries Secrets of Playboy started, and it’s made people talk about Playboy patriarch Hugh Hefner’s net worth. Former playmates in the A&E docuseries Secrets of Playboy discuss what happened behind the scenes at Hugh’s posh Playboy mansion.

The series discusses the magazine publisher’s life, home, and career and has interviews with a number of his former playmates, bunnies, girlfriends, and employees. 

As his ex-girlfriend Holly Madison put it, it was “very cult-like” and she the other women “were all kind of gaslit and expected to think of Hef as, like, this really good guy.

As the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner was extremely wealthy, but what was his net worth at the time of his death?

How did Hugh Hefner Start His Career?

Born in 1926 in Chicago, Hugh served as a US Army writer for a military newspaper from 1944 to 1946 before studying Psychology at the University of Illinois and gaining a double minor in Creative Writing and Art.

He then started working as a copywriter at Esquire but quit his job in 1952 after refusing a $5 raise. Then, he took out a $600 mortgage loan and raised $8,000 from 45 investors to launch Playboy.

At the age of 27 in 1953, Hugh Hefner began Playboy magazine in Chicago with $8,000 in loans, he once told Fortune. 

His mother and brother contributed the two biggest loans of $1,000 each, while his father, an accountant who thought magazines were a lousy investment, denied providing financial backing, Money reported.

The first issue was published in December 1953 and featured images of Marilyn Monroe from a 1949 nude calendar shoot she did. It sold 50,000 copies and soon became one of America’s biggest magazines.

Hefner made an empire with that fair funding and cemented himself, his signature satin robes, and the Playboy Bunnies as pop culture icons. By the 1960s, Hefner had made a sizable fortune. 

As well as founder, he was also the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, the publishing group behind the magazine, and began hosting several Playboy TV shows.

In 1974, he moved into his famous Playboy Mansion, where he lived with different women until he died in 2017.

What is Playboy? 

It’s a men’s lifestyle magazine that started in print and is now online. It’s famous for posting nude photos of women, often wearing bunny ears, and other sexual material shown in a rather tasteful way. 

The word “playboy” suggests a usually rich man who relishes leisurely pursuits and casual sex.

Recently, A&E debuted the 10-part docuseries Secrets of Playboy, in which former Playboy Bunnies disclose behind-the-scenes details about life with Hef in the Playboy Mansion.

Hugh Hefner’s Net Worth at the Time of His Death

He owned stock in Playboy at one time, equaling $250 million. But how much was Hugh Hefner worth when he died? 

In 2017, Hugh Hefner’s net worth counted about $45 million upon his death from cardiac arrest. However, Fortune estimated his net worth to be much lower — around $26 million or even as low as $15 million. Why?

Hugh Hefner Didn’t Own Any Real Estate

According to the source, Hefner didn’t have any physical assets or properties to his name in 2017. Before he died, he sold the iconic Playboy Mansion for $100 million to his next-door neighbor. 

But here’s where it gets a little confusing. Hefner didn’t pocket any of the millions made from the sale because, at the time, he didn’t even own the Playboy Mansion. 

In 2011, Hefner became a heightened employee of Playboy Enterprises, the company he created when a private equity firm (in partnership with him) bought the company and made it private.

He didn’t put up Money for sale and gave his stocks to the equity firm on a few conditions. The first was he’d get a salary of $1 million a year. And second, he’d be allowed to live at the Playboy Mansion for practically nothing — $100 a year — until his death. 

Hugh Hefner Didn’t Get Royalties on the Playboy Brand

In the same sale, Hef didn’t own the rights to the Playboy brand or his name, signature, or likeness. 

That means the Playboy founder didn’t make any money off royalties from sales of anything related to the iconic bunny logo. 

Hugh Hefner Spent a Lot of Money on Living Expenses

One way or another, Hefner spent a lot of the Money he made from Playboy. According tocourt documents obtained by TMZ during his 2009 divorce, he had assets worth $43 million, not including Playboy stock.

At the time, records showed he had been spending $46,000 a month on food, entertainment, and healthcare and another $20,000 on alimony. Then there’s the $54,000 he spent to maintain the Playboy Mansion. 

Hefner’s final resting place is next to another pop culture icon, Marilyn Monroe, the first woman featured in Playboy magazine, at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in LA.

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