Bob Guccione Jr.'s Net Worth as of 2024
$400 Million
Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione was born on 17 December 1930, in Brooklyn, New York City USA, of Italian (Sicilian) descent. Bob was a businessman and magazine publisher, best known to be the founder of the adult magazine “Penthouse”. The magazine was aimed at being a competitor of “Playboy”, and all of his efforts helped put his net worth to where it was prior to his passing in 2010.
How rich was Bob Guccione? As of early-2017, sources estimate a net worth that was at $400 million, mostly earned through the success of “Penthouse”; he was listed as part of the 1982 Forbes 400 wealth list. However the growth of online porn diminished his market, leading to his publishers’ bankruptcy. Despite this, all of his achievements ensured the position of his wealth.
Bob Guccione Net Worth $400 million
Guccione attended Blair Academy located in New Jersey. Early in his career, he managed a chain of Laundromats to support his family, and he also worked as a cartoonist for “The London American”. Later, he started selling pin-up posters, and created cartoons for Box Cards.
In 1965, Bob started “Penthouse”, beginning publication in England before extending to the United States four years later. It was an attempt to compete with “Playboy”, and focused a lot on a more investigative style,with several well-known writers – “Penthouse” focused a lot on art while “Playboy” made a foray into sports. Guccione was responsible for photographing most of the models during the early issues of the magazine, and the success of the publication would increase his net worth significantly. “Penthouse” was one of the first to offer more sexually explicit content and also used unauthorized photos of celebrities. Later, the magazine started to show a lot more “fetish” content.
Bob also invested $45 million in the construction of the luxury hotel resort Haluduvo Palace Hotel, which was opened in 1972, however went bankrupt the following year. In 1976, he then used $17.5 million to finance the controversial film “Caligula”. He also created the magazines “Viva” and “Omni”. In 2000, he then started to make a comic book spin-off of his magazine entitled “Penthouse Comix” which featured sexually explicit stories.
Guccione was been awarded and recognized for his work. Brandeis University honored him for his editorial attention with stories focusing a lot on modern society; he was named “Publisher of the Year” by the Atlantic Coast Independent Distributers Association. In 2013, a film was made about him entitled “Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story”.
After several unsuccessful investments, including the Penthouse Boardwalk Hotel and Casino which lost $160 million, Bob started to make efforts to regain notoriety. He attempted to get Monica Lewinsky to pose for the magazine, however, in 2003 “Penthouse” publisher General Media declared bankruptcy, and this led to Guccione resigning as the CEO of the company. The company was reorganized after he left.
For his personal life, it is known that Bob embraced a life of luxury, and owned a 22,000 square feet mansion in Manhattan. He was married four times, firstly to Lilyanne Becker in his teens. His second marriage was to Muriel Hudson in 1966 and they stayed together until 1979. In 1988, he married Kathy Keeton, however, she passed away in 1997 due to surgery complications. Bob then married ex-model April Dawn Warren in 2006, and they remained together until his death from lung cancer in 2010. He reportedly had five children.
