Hugh Hefner, the man who launched Playboy magazine in the early 1950s in Chicago, has made a formal offer to take parent company Playboy Enterprises private.

In a letter to Playboy’s board of directors, Hefner offered to purchase all of the company’s outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. Hefner currently owns 69.5 percent of Playboy Enterprise’s Class A stock and 27.7 of its Class B stock.

Hefner offered to purchase the shares at $5.50 per share in cash.

In association with the offer, Hefner indicated that he plans to partner with investment firm Rizvi Traverse Management, which already has taken steps to secure the required funding for the proposed deal.

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