Brands
Allied Blenders names Pradipta Basu as CMO amid marketing reshuffle
Leadership rejig sees Basu take charge while Mohta, Rao exit SMP roles
MUMBAI: Allied Blenders and Distillers Limited has appointed Pradipta Basu as its chief marketing officer, marking a key shift in its marketing leadership as the company sharpens its growth strategy.
The appointment, effective April 15, 2026, also sees a change in reporting structure. Arvind Mohta and Uday Rao will no longer be classified as senior management personnel, though both continue in their roles as marketing directors.
Basu steps into the role with over 25 years of experience across FMCG and beverages, having worked with companies including Radico Khaitan, United Spirits, ITC Limited, Godfrey Phillips India, Alcobrew Distilleries India and HJ Heinz.
Most recently, he served as vice president – marketing and business development at Radico Khaitan, where he led national marketing strategy, portfolio management and P&L responsibilities. His remit also included driving innovation and scaling brand growth across multiple categories.
Over the years, Basu has built a reputation for managing large national brands and premium portfolios, while leading integrated ATL and BTL campaigns, product launches, pricing strategies and agency ecosystems.
Academically, he holds a management degree from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, along with an MBA in marketing and HR. He also has a PhD in management from École Supérieure Robert de Sorbonne, France.
With this move, Allied Blenders appears to be aligning its marketing leadership with evolving business priorities, placing seasoned experience at the centre of its next growth phase.
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
