|
Purveyor, Fine Asian Porn
Industry Role:
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 38,323
|
Translated from Die Welt:
Quote:
The rumors were circulating in the porn industry for a while : The top executives of the Internet giant Manwin sex would be the German company owner Fabian Thylmann like to get rid of , because German prosecutors are investigating him on suspicion of tax evasion.
Behind closed doors, it was said : Thylmann should get an offer he could not refuse.
Now it is apparently so far . The American trade magazine XBIZ reported : Thylmann sold his shares in the Group , which includes the well-known brands such as Porn Youporn , Pornhub or MyDirtyHobby , a " top management team " of the group .
The magazine quotes a letter from Fabian Thylmann and his wife to the employees of Manwin . With " sadness in the heart " they had opted for the step. " Please believe me , this decision was one of the worst in the lives of my wife and me ," reads the letter .
The exact reasons for the leave , the couple left in the dark . "Both myself and Manwin , are at a point where I can contribute no decisive value more with my skills ," writes Thylmann .
Future will be decided in Canada
The IT entrepreneur named nor the names of top managers who take over the company now . The usually well-informed industry blogger Mike South writes , however , that it shall be at the buyers to Feras Antoon and David Tassilo .
Both are managers in the Canadian site of Manwin in Montreal , where the majority of the employees sitting . The site is considered the largest and most important group of companies and Antoon as the central figure in Montreal .
After Thylmann was arrested last December by German prosecutors and spent several days in custody , Antoon had already replaced him as CEO of Manwin Holding Sarl . This is the ultimate holding company of Mawin , which is registered in Luxembourg .
Thylmann the time being , however, remained the sole owner . Why did he just now decided to sell and if anyone has had on him pressure is unclear.
Purchase price could be more than $ 100 million
South claimed that several informants were opposite a purchase price of 100 million dollars ( 73 million euros ) talked to him , get the Thlymann for the group.
In addition, there is a " Note on an additional 200 million" . Whether the sum is correct, where the Canadian managers have the money and whether other investors are involved is not known .
Fabian Thylmann thus ending an unusually successful career with the dubious corporate network . In recent years Thylmann had placed a breathtaking expansion with Manwin bought together and many well known porn company . Long the Mitdreißiger was considered the new Hugh Heffner . Also because Manwin a license of "Playboy" for online marketing and the TV received the Bunny brand .
On the other hand polarized Thylmann the global porn industry because he offers with so-called tube sites Onlinesex free . He was the ultimate low-cost competition , a revolutionary business models , but is also a mystery.
Thlymann created the largest online porn company in the world
According to XBIZ Manwin is now the largest online porn company in the world . The group operates tube porn sites and other offers like Youporn , Pornhub , Reality Kings , XTube , Brazzers , extremetube , MyDirtyHobby , the porn studio Digital Playground and Live Sex offer Webcams.com .
The money for the many acquisitions came from a 362- million-dollar loan that provides Thylmann had two former Goldman Sachs banker. A portion of the credit can be traced back to the New York hedge fund Fortress Investment Group .
The "Welt am Sonntag " had the dubious structures and methods of Manwin made public a year ago and the first newspaper described the career of the boss and founder Fabian Thylmann .
The dossier also focused on abnormalities in the company's design, gave rise to the suspicion of tax evasion. Thus , the reporter found the Luxembourg office , where the ultimate holding company and several subsidiaries reside , orphaned before .
They also discovered a complex network of more than 35 companies in Montreal , London, Hamburg , Los Angeles and in Cyprus.
In 2012 came the Dezemer tax investigation
In particular, statements of employees and documents from the Hamburg office of the sex sites MyDirtyHobby had then pointed to questionable business practices. So were German porn actor for their films invoices indicating the Cypriot VAT has been deducted .
Questions about Thylmann left and then his spokeswoman unanswered. However, they were later legal action against the publication of the "Welt am Sonntag " before and lost in court.
In December 2012, then slammed the German tax investigation . The officers searched Thylmanns villa in Brussels and the Manwin office in Hamburg. The Manwin boss spent several days in custody.
Waiting for the prosecution
Only against the payment of a two -digit million deposit he was free again . His passport , the authorities maintained a .
Two German prosecutors determined the meantime against the employer . To the suspicion of tax evasion - the talk is of more than ten million euros - was also suspected of disseminating pornography to minors.
How long the authorities will need for their investigation and whether there will be charges , almost exactly a year after the first release in the "Welt am Sonntag" in sight.
In Thylmanns farewell letter to his employees any self-criticism is in any case to recognize : "I hope I have all of you and the management taught the correct values in order to run the business on the way I look forward to its further development Who knows, maybe . . some will our paths cross again .
|
ADG |