Their business model is the same as Hello Kitty's: licensing their logo onto everything. They admit in the article that the magazine is a loss leader to promote the licensing business.

The "I read it for the articles" thing was always based on a kernel of truth. Here's a good starter list: https://longform.org/publications/playboy

I don't remember where I read this, so I can't really vouch for its reliability, but supposedly the articles were the magazine's original reason for existing. The story I read was that Hefner pitched a lifestyle magazine to publishers, but they were worried that the material he wanted to include - cocktails, interior design, arts - would be perceived as "too gay," and so discourage straight men from buying the magazine. Hence the naked women were added to make the reader feel secure in their heterosexuality.

Netflix was originally just a DVD distribution company. They made a transition well...