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Everything Budweiser at Lollapalooza India 2024
Mumbai: Partnering with Lollapalooza India for the second year in running, Budweiser co-curated and offered unparalleled experiences for festival attendees. Here are highlights from what went down this year!
The BUDX Stage
Staying true to Budweiser’s commitment towards elevating India’s music scene, the BUDX Stage featured iconic acts including Sting, Jonas Brothers, Keane, Lauv, Anoushka Shankar, The Raghu Dixit Project, When Chai Met Toast and others.
Surprise genre collaborations!
Adding an element of surprise to performances on the BUDX Stage, Lolla-attendees witnessed surprise, genre-bending collaborations. This includes the ‘Maan Meri Jaan’ famed artist KING sharing a duet with Nick Jonas, Lauv & Armaan Malik performing ‘I’m So Tired’ and Anoushka Shankar joining forces with Keane.
BUDX Uncovered Acts
The BUDX Stage was also home to two BUDX Uncovered acts – Meghalaya-based rapper, Meba Ofilia on day 1, music-duo RANJ & Clifr on day 2. BUDX Uncovered is an initiative that spotlights breakout artists, providing them the opportunity to perform at a global stage.
Immersive & Engaging On-ground Activations
This year, Budweiser’s Brew District at Lollapalooza India 2024 housed the Rizz Studio with hairstyling, tattooing and piercing stations. Lolla- attendees also enjoyed panoramic views through Budweiser’s Ferris wheel.
Bud & Burgers
Budweiser also partnered with The Bug Forkers to organise ‘Bud & Burgers: Burger Wars’. Chefs Vasquito Alvares (@vasquitoalvares) and Arjun Sikdar (@arjunsikdar) went head-to-head, offering festival-goers a selection of burgers that perfectly complemented the refreshing taste of Budweiser beer.
Free, fun, and safe rides!
Budweiser partnered with Ola to offer lolla-attendees free, fun, and safe rides during the music festival. Through ‘Budweiser Beats Music Mobiles’ festival-goers could avail rides from 4 areas across the city, to the Mahalakshmi Racecourse.
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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.
