Larry Flynt Publications
 LFP headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry |
|
| Founded | 1976 |
| Founder | Larry Flynt |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Larry Flynt, CEO/President |
| Products |
|
| Owner | Larry Flynt |
| Divisions |
|
Larry Flynt Publications, or LFP, Inc. is an American business enterprise that owns, manages and operates the
Hustler magazine
In March 1972, Flynt created the Hustler Newsletter, a four-page, black-and-white publication of information about his Hustler Clubs. This item became so popular with his customers that by May 1972 he expanded the Hustler Newsletter to 16 pages and in August 1973, to 32 pages.
As a result of the 1973 oil crisis the United States entered an economic recession; Hustler Club customers tightened their spending and Flynt had to find financing to pay his debts or go bankrupt. He decided to turn the Hustler Newsletter into a sexually-explicit national magazine. He paid the start-up costs of the new magazine using sales taxes collected in the clubs.
In July 1974, the first issue of Hustler magazine was published. Although the first few issues went largely unnoticed, within a year it became highly lucrative and he was able to pay his tax debts.[1]
The magazine struggled for the first year, partly because many distributors and wholesalers refused to handle it as its nude photos became increasingly graphic. It targeted
Shortly thereafter, Flynt was approached by a
Other magazines
After 1976, Larry Flynt Publications began publishing many pornographic magazine titles as well as mainstream ones. Other pornographic magazines included:
- Hustler's Taboo, which specializes in fetishistic material, such as the depiction of sexual bondage and urolagnia.
- Barely Legal, a primarily softcore magazine focusing on models between 18 and 23
- Hustler XXX, a more generic hardcore offering
- Hustler Beaver Hunt, featuring amateurs and reader-submitted photos
- Hustler's Leg World
- Asian Fever, focusing on Asian models
- Hustler's Chic Magazine, started in 1976 and aimed at a more upscale clientele than Hustler.
- Hustler's Busty Beauties is a softcore magazine which specializes in photographs of women with extremely large breasts.
When sales of men's magazines fell in the late 1990s, LFP expanded into production of
Rip magazine was a music magazine covering heavy metal music. It was the first non-pornographic publication produced by LFP, and was edited by Lonn Friend, who had previously edited Hustler and Chic. Writers included rock journalist Judy Wieder, Mick Wall, and Andy Secher.
It published 14 bi-monthly issues of
LFP published
As the 21st century approached, magazine sales further declined. Together, the company's 31 periodicals had a monthly circulation of between 2.5 and 3 million.[citation needed] This was a far cry from the 1970s, when Hustler alone sold that many copies each month.[4] Because of this LFP focused on turning its magazine and video titles such as Hustler, Barely Legal, Busty Beauties, Beaver Hunt, and Asian Fever into profitable websites.
By 1998, estimates LFP was doing $135 million in annual sales with 51,112 periodicals published and 7,812 movies and or video tapes produced.[4]
Hustler Video
Hustler Video is a pornographic film studio owned by LFP.[7] In 2003 Hustler Video bought VCA Pictures,[8] which maintains a separate brand identity within the LFP conglomerate.[8] Hustler Video has produced several top-selling and award-winning films, such as Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle, Snoop Dogg's Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp and Who's Nailin' Paylin?.
In 2010 when AIDS Healthcare Foundation lodged a complaint against the Hustler Video group for not requiring the actors to wear condoms and thereby contributing to the spread of HIV, Michael H. Klein, the President of LFP responded by saying the company would not back down from shooting raw sex videos.[9]
Hustler Clubs
The Hustler Club is a chain of strip clubs. In 1968, Flynt opened the first Hustler Club which featured semi-clothed girls. One Hustler Club in Dayton quickly lead to a chain of clubs with the same name in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, and Akron. By early 1970, he had eight clubs and 300 employees.[4] In 1974 with profits from Hustler magazine far surpassing those of the Hustler Clubs, Flynt decided to get out of the bars business and be a publisher full-time.[4] For close to 30 years the Hustler Club name lay dormant. In the early 2000s (decade), LFP began to license the Hustler Club name for new clubs across the country. Currently there are Hustler Clubs in 6 U.S. states and 3 countries.
References
- ISBN 0-7871-1143-0, page 88 and 95.
- ISBN 0-7871-1143-0, page 91
- ISBN 0-7871-1143-0, page 98-99.
- ^ a b c d e Pederson, Jay. International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 31. St. James Press, 2000.
- ^ "Tips & Tricks Magazine Trimmed". Escapist Magazine. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
- ^ "Tips & Tricks Magazine gets shafted, editorial staff laid off". Joystiq. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
- Hoover's. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
- ^ a b "It's Now Official: Hustler Acquires VCA; Deal Comes a Year After Vivid Pact, Cementing Hustler As..." AVN. Archived from the original on 2009-09-03. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
- Time Magazine. 2010-08-27. Archived from the originalon September 2, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-19.
