Playboy to Outsource Business Operations

CHICAGO (TheStreet) -- Playboy(PLA Quote) has agreed to outsource most of the business operations of Playboy magazine to American Media , a report says.

Playboy will turn over all the magazine's operations except the editorial operations to American Media, which publishes titles such as Star and Men's Fitness. The five-year partnership, reached last week, will help reduce costs and return the magazine to profitability by the end of 2011, said CEO Scott Flanders, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Financial terms of the agreement weren't disclosed. What it costs Playboy will be based in part on advertising sales, which American Media is taking over, the Journal reports.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Playboy was in talks to sell the company. Flanders declined to comment for the Journal on a potential sale.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York .

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