What Is Christie Hefner's Net Worth and Salary?
Christie Hefner is an American businesswoman who has a net worth of $30 million. Christie Hefner is perhaps most famous for being the daughter of Hugh Hefner and the onetime President and CEO of Playboy Enterprises. Christie was appointed President of Playboy Enterprises in 1982. She became Chairwoman and CEO in 1988 and held that position until 2009. In addition to her work at Playboy, she is heavily involved in multiple political initiatives focusing on First Amendment issues, women's rights, and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Christie founded the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award, which is given to a person or organization that embodies First Amendment rights. Since its inception, the award has been given to more than 100 individuals, including lawyers, librarians, journalists, students, and educators.
She also raised $30 million for the CORE Center in Chicago, an outpatient facility for people living with AIDS in the Midwest. She is currently the Executive Chairman of Canyon Ranch Enterprises, a company focused on health and wellness.
Early Life
Christie Hefner was born on November 8, 1952, in Wilmette, Illinois,. Her parents separated by the time she was five.
Hefner grew up with her brother, David. She also has two half-brothers, Cooper and Marston, from her father's marriage to Kimberly Conrad. She attended the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan, during the summers from 1964 to 1969. She also attended New Trier High School and graduated in 1970. She then attended Brandeis University, graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English and American literature in 1974. While at Brandeis, she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa academic society during her junior year.
Career At "Playboy"
After college, Hefner freelanced for the "Boston Phoenix" for a year and wrote movie reviews. She then moved back to Chicago and began working at "Playboy," the magazine started by her father. She was made the chairman of the board and CEO in 1988. In this role, she extended the magazine's franchise overseas to 25 localized foreign editions. She also developed the company's profitable pay television business, which was the first time a magazine successfully leveraged its brand into a television network. She also oversaw the acquisition of ad-oriented businesses such as Spice Network and ClubJenna from Jenna Jameson and then husband Jay Grdina.
In 1994, Hefner led the company to develop a presence on the Internet with the launch of Playboy.com, the first national magazine to launch a website. Through the website, the company was able to build an international, profitable, multi-revenue stream business that included premium content, e-commerce, and advertising and gaming, both online and accessible via mobile devices. She also helped build a highly profitable direct marketing, catalog, and e-commerce business in film and music through both acquisition and organic growth. Additionally, she helped expand the leveraging of the Playboy brand via licensing. By the time of her last year in the leadership position, Playboy generated close to $1 billion in global retail sales, 80% of which were sales to women. She had also made a concerted effort to diversify the leadership of Playboy, as 40% of the company's executives were women.
By the time Hefner stepped down from the role in 2009, she was the longest-serving female CEO of a publicly traded company. While in the role, she was named to the "Fortune" list of the "Most Powerful Women" three times. She has stated that the decision to step down from the company was her own, as she was inspired by the election of Barack Obama to give more of her time to charitable work. She officially stepped down in January 2009.
Chris Harding/Getty Images
Playboy Salary and Stock
Christie Hefner's base salary as CEO of Playboy Enterprises was $875,000 in 2008. She also received a bonus of $1.2 million and other compensation totaling $2.5 million. Her total compensation was 10 times higher than the average CEO salary in the United States at the time.
Hefner's high salary was criticized by some shareholders, who argued that she was overpaid for her performance. However, her supporters argued that she was a successful CEO who had led the company through a period of growth and innovation.
Hefner resigned as CEO of Playboy Enterprises in 2009. She was succeeded by Scott Flanders, who had a base salary of $875,000.
In 2011, Christie sold 1.5 million shares of Playboy for $20.8 million. At the time, she still owned about 2.5 million shares or about 4% of the company.
Hefner's sale of shares was part of a larger sell-off of Playboy Enterprises stock. In the months leading up to Hefner's sale, the company's stock price had fallen by about 50%. This was due to a number of factors, including the company's declining magazine business and the rise of digital pornography.
Hefner's sale of shares was met with mixed reactions. Some shareholders criticized her for selling at a time when the company's stock price was low. Others defended her, saying that she was simply cashing out on her investment.
In 2011, Playboy Enterprises was acquired by Iconix Brand Group for $5.5 billion. Christie remained on the board of directors of the new company until 2015.
Other Ventures
Today, Christie is Chairman of the Board of Hatchbeauty Brands, which partners with leading retailers to bring brands to life with superior speed and precision. She's also director of Fyllo, a leading innovator in data, media and compliance solutions for highly regulated industries, and of Healthwell, a SPAC targeting technology-enabled healthcare businesses. She also works directly with CEOs on strategy innovation, including the digital transformation of a media company and the rapid growth of a technology company that has patented a method of extracting methane from the atmosphere and turning it into a new material with the durability of plastic but that's ocean biodegradable.
Hefner additionally serves on the advisory board of the R.D. Offutt company. The company is an international, multi-billion dollar family-owned agricultural conglomerate. She is also on the board of Edge Beauty, the world's leading direct-to-consumer company in creating, designing, manufacturing, and marketing unique fragrance brands created to serve a niche market.
Personal Life
Christie Hefner was married to real estate developer William Marovitz from 1995 to 2013. Marovitz was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly using inside information to trade illegally in shares of Playboy. In 2011, he settled out of court. Hefner lives in Chicago.
