Web of porn could close Penthouse

It was one of the pioneers of the soft porn industry and a top-shelf favourite for more than 30 years.

But Penthouse magazine could fall victim to the cybersex boom and rising sales of explicit DVDs.

The publication, which once sold more than 5million copies, is now on the verge of collapse with sales down to 650,000.

Veteran publisher Bob Guccione, 71, who is suffering from throat cancer, admitted yesterday there was no future in mainstream soft-porn magazines.

He said: 'The future has definitely migrated to electronic media.'

Guccione, a former artist, launched Penthouse in London in 1965 and took it to the US four years later as a raunchier rival to Playboy.

It was a runaway success and went on to be published in 14 languages.

By the 1990s, however, the stable of publications which included Girls Of Penthouse and Forum was losing ground to a new generation of lads' magazines such as Maxim and FHM.

In an attempt to fight back, Penthouse became more explicit and featured celebrities such as Paula Jones, the woman who accused President Bill Clinton of sexually harassing her when he was governor of Arkansas. Despite this, its circulation continued to plummet and attempts to diversify into Internet porn and phone sex lines had only limited success.

Penthouse's parent company, General Media, now has debts of £36million - but still managed to pay Mr Guccione a £1.2million salary last year.

Not everyone will be sad to see the demise of his empire. Feminist writer Andrea Dworkin said she was delighted the magazine was under threat.

But she added: 'The problem is that it is being replaced, quite possibly, by something much worse.'