Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and soft-core pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by Penthouse Media Group, Inc. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International Inc. prior to chapter 11 restructuring. Although Guccione is American, the magazine was founded in 1965 in the United Kingdom, but beginning in 1969 was sold in the United States as well. At the height of his success, Guccione was considered to be one of the richest men in the United States. He was once listed in the Forbes 400 ranking of wealthiest people (1982-$400 million net worth). According to an April 2002 New York Times article that quoted Guccione saying Penthouse grossed $3.5 billion to $4 billion over the 30-year life of the company, with net income of almost half a billion dollars.

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Date: July 2008