One of London’s last floats in 2021 landed online ‘lad’s mag’ founder Solly Solomou with a £200million Christmas bonus.
Solomou, 30, sold around £50million in shares but held on to a £150million stake yesterday as LBG Media – the owner of LadBible – joined the junior AIM exchange.
The youth-focused news and entertainment site was valued at £360million when it was listed yesterday for 175p per share.
LadBible founder Solly Solomou sold around £50m in shares but held onto a £150m stake as parent company LBG Media – the owner of LadBible – joined the junior AIM exchange
However, investors fell for its easy accessibility to young 18-34 year-olds. As a result, shares jumped 14.3%, or 25p to 200p. The Manchester firm closed with a market cap of £411million.
Solomou and his co-founder Arian Kalantari said the company started when they were looking for a way to engage with people ‘just like us’.
LadBible, which was established in 2012, became well-known for its humorous and sexual content. This was in part due to its filling of the gap left by magazines like Zoo, FHM, Zoo, and Nuts.
However, it has evolved its tone to promote sustainability and diversity.
This site also features mainstream news. Last year, it interviewed Rishi Unak.
There are 360 people working in London, Manchester and Dublin as well as Melbourne, Sydney and Melbourne.
Its websites had 28bn views last year, and it made £23million revenue in the six months to June 30, with £5.7million profit.
It also recruited Carol Kane (co-founder of online fashion website Boohoo) to its board to increase credibility.
It also has the backing of Kane’s Boohoo co-founder and billionaire Mahmud Kamani, who until yesterday owned a third of the company.
Kamani, 57, cashed in, selling £23.9million worth of shares, but still owns a 24 per cent stake, worth £71.6million.