Brands
Dads are uploading pictures with kids on LinkedIn
MUMBAI: If you’ve got any father as a connection on LinkedIn, you may have noticed that they might have changed their display picture in the last few days from the typical LinkedIn corporate mugshot to adorable pictures of them with their kids.
It’s no coincidence. Hundreds of fathers across the world’s largest professional platform are doing the same. Reason? To show their professional circles that their life goes way beyond their profession. We’re talking about high-level professionals across some of India’s biggest companies in telecommunication, OEMs, online fashion retail, automobiles, technology, news and media, food delivery, financial services – to name just a few.
The notion that a successful professional man is usually not as devoted a family man, has become a belief of the past. Today’s young dads manage to toggle between work and dad-mode with ease and have even branded themselves: as #PenguinDads-as an ode to the male emperor penguin, which is considered the most devoted father in the animal kingdom. And our own #PenguinDads on LinkedIn haven’t missed out on the opportunity to let their connections know that their most important job is the one at home, with their little ones. A refreshing, much-needed point to be made, indeed!
Dentsu Webchutney Bangalore senior creative director PG Aditya says, “Often, being successful at your profession is the biggest defence mechanism used by men to bail out of being involved and available at home. We wanted to show that it’s entirely possible for both sides to co-exist, through stories of those who do it already.”
The initiative, in fact, was started by Flipkart, as a follow-up to its ‘Penguin Dad’ campaign, whose heartwarming lead film has become a major internet sensation. Now, its changing the face of LinkedIn India.
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.
