Dear Penthouse Letters: I Never Thought It Could Happen to Me …

“The magazine of sex, politics and protest” is now the “The magazine of sex, politics, protest and social networking.”

Penthouse Media Group has acquired Various and its more than 25 “Friendfinder” social-networking sites for a reported $500 million. Among the company’s properties, pop-up purveyor Adultfriendfinder.com (“The World’s Largest Sex & Swinger Personals Community”), Italianfriendfinder.com (“The Italian Way of Love!”) and Bigchurch.com (“Bringing People Together in Love and Faith”).

Taken together, the Various sites have a membership base of more than 260 million, with roughly 1.2 million subscribers who pay up to $50 a month for their services. And the company is rumored to be raking in “hundreds of millions of dollars” in annual revenues. Seems Penthouse got itself quite a deal.