 | This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. (October 2023) |
&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Penthouse_text_logo.svg){kind=logo} | |
&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Penthousecover122009.jpg) The December 2009 U.S. issue of Penthouse | |
| Categories | Men's, lifestyle |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly (1968–2018) Bi-monthly (2018–present) |
| Total circulation (2012) | 109,792[1] |
| Founded | March 1965 (UK) September 1969 (US) |
| Company | Penthouse World Media |
| Country | |
| Based in | Los Angeles, California |
| Language | English |
| Website | penthouse |
| ISSN | 0090-2020 |
Penthouse is a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione and published by Los Angeles–based Penthouse World Media, LLC. It combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictures of women that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore pornographic pictures of women.
Although Guccione was American, the magazine was founded in the United Kingdom in 1965, and first published simultaneously in the UK and the US in March 1965. From September 1969, an "American Edition" was made available in the US.[2] Since 2016, Penthouse has been under the ownership of Penthouse World Media (formerly known as Penthouse Global Media Inc.), which filed for bankruptcy in 2018. Its assets were subsequently acquired in June of that same year by WGCZ Ltd., the owners of XVideos,[3] when it won a bankruptcy auction bid. Later on, Penthouse Global Media was spun off from WGCZ and rebranded as Penthouse World Media.
The magazine's centerfold models are known as Penthouse "Pets", and customarily wear a distinctive necklace in the form of a stylized key which incorporates both the Mars and Venus symbols in its design.
The first "Pet of the Month" was Denise Johns, who was also pictured on the cover. The first US Pet of the Month was Evelyn Treacher, who was on the cover of the first US edition in September 1969. The first Pet of the Year in the US was Stephanie McLean, pictured on the cover of the September 1971 issue.
In 2024, Penthouse started releasing physical copies of comic magazines.
- ^ "AAM: Total Circ for Consumer Magazines". accessabc.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2012. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
- ^ "Penthouse Magazine Issue #1 (First American Issue)". Back In Time Rare Books. Archived from the original on April 10, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- ^ "Skin in the Game: Purveyor of Porn Buys Bankrupt Penthouse". biglawbusiness.com. Archived from the original on October 15, 2018.