Playboy Enterprises Inc, the iconic adult entertainment publisher and brand name, announced a new permanent chief executive on Monday, newspaper publisher Scott Flanders, Reuters reported Monday.

Flanders will take over from interim Chief Executive Jerome Kern at a time when Playboy is facing significant advertising revenue declines, competition from online pornography and rumors of the company's sale.

Flanders will leave his current chief executive position at Freedom Communications, a television broadcaster and newspaper publisher. Freedom publishes the Orange County Register, the premier newspaper for the company's resident town, Irvine, California.

Flanders is the first person to take a permanent chief executive position at Playboy since the late 2008 departure of Christie Hefner, daughter of the magazine's founder Hugh Hefner.

Despite the strength of the company's brand name, Playboy has suffered on the back of the adult audience's online migration and plummeting advertising income. Flanders, however, said he is hopeful for the company's future.

"The brand punches above its weight," he told Reuters. "I see huge potential for it."

Rumors have also run rampant about the sale of the company, severing the magazine from its iconic founder Hugh Hefner after 50 years. British celebrity entrepreneur Richard Branson last week denied claims of a Virgin Group interest in the magazines purchase, and Flanders refused to directly address the company's reported sale, according to Reuters.