Parent company Blue Active Media Ltd. Founded 1964 Successor Paul Chaplin | Status Active Founder Paul Raymond Country of origin United Kingdom | |
Paul Raymond Publications is a British pornography publisher of monthly softcore pornographic magazine titles: Escort, Club International, Mayfair, Men Only, Men's World, Razzle, Swing Mag, Club DVD and Escort DVD. It also publishes an adult website at www
Contents
History
Paul Raymond's (1925–2008) publication ventures, financed by Raymond Revuebar profits, began with the short-lived King in 1964 but the company was established with the purchase of Men Only in 1971 and Club International in 1972. Raymond relaunched Men Only with photographs of the women who worked at his strip-clubs. Within a few years he made claim of a 500,000 circulation. In 1979 he launched the Electric Blue series of videos, a range which was produced until the mid 1990s. Raymond's daughter Debbie ran the company for a time, until her death in 1992 from an overdose. The company's main competitors in the UK are Gold Star Publications, formerly owned by David Sullivan, and Northern & Shell, owned by Richard Desmond. In 1999 the company had revenues of £20 million, and pre-tax profits of £19 million. As of 2001 it produced eight of the 10 best-selling pornographic magazines in the UK, aided by its deal with Comag, one of Britains largest magazine distributors. In the 2000s the companies fortunes waned due to competition from the internet and "lad mags".
Sale and acquisition
Following Raymond's death, the US arm of the company was sold to Magna Publishing Group; the UK arm was sold to private investors that formed Tri Active Media Ltd. holding it for about 3 years. Paul Chaplin bought (6 October 2012) Paul Raymond Publications for an undisclosed sum, and reunited it with Loaded and Superbike magazines under the newly formed Blue Active Media Ltd. The latter acquisition provided capital to focus rejuvenation of Paul Raymond brand publications to their heyday. Mayfair, has improved on paper quality and pagination.
Chaplin, recognizing the value that digital media can bring to print publication, has invested in redeveloping the online presence of the Paul Raymond brand with new websites, focussing on the new .xxx TLD.