Brands
HUL emerges as numero uno employer of choice for fourth successive year
MUMBAI: As per the latest Nielsen Campus Track-B School Survey, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) has emerged as the No. 1 Employer of Choice across all sectors for the 2015 graduating batch of B-School students, across functions for the fourth year in a row.
In addition, HUL retains the ‘Dream Employer’ status for the sixth year running and continues to be the top company considered for application by B-School students. HUL has also been ranked No. 1 for marketing as well as No. 1 FMCG in finance. This is the 15th year of the Nielsen Campus Track B-school study.
This achievement is recognition by students of the consistent actions HUL has taken over the years to build mutually beneficial relationships and engagements with the student and academic community.
HUL’s strong employer value proposition is rooted in its unique positioning as a “Leadership Factory” – offering big jobs early on in career to groom for functional and business leadership responsibilities. With its robust talent systems and processes, HUL identifies talent early and invests to build capability.
The company also offers a rigorous Summer Internship Programme, where interns go through an enriching learning experience by managing live projects that have a direct and huge impact on the business. In 2014, over 51 per cent interns completed projects at international locations in Unilever. HUL is also one of the first to announce Pre-Placement Offers (PPO) for interns across campuses.
HUL has a clearly defined career philosophy, which revolves around job rotation and diversity of experiences at all stages of the individual’s career. Internationalisation is also built in and currently around 200 HUL managers have been expatriated to other Unilever countries.
India offers an incredible opportunity. The sheer size and the growth prospects make it an exciting place for HUL. Growing incomes and the changing attitudes to consumption will mean that India is likely to see strong growth for several years to come. In that situation, HUL is very well positioned. Its current leadership positions, size, scale and strong brands position HUL perfectly to leverage this opportunity and make a real difference in this country.
The company also has a rigorous and transparent people planning process, which is owned by leaders at each level who review and assess talent on both the “What” and the “How’” of performance through an objective process. Capability building and career plans for talent form an integral part of this process.
Leadership development at HUL is about building leaders through a combination of disciplined routines and processes, and something not always evident from outside: a collective expertise, honed through practice, in recognizing and developing talent. This has established HUL as a source of leadership talent, both for Unilever globally and in industry in general.
Recognizing the importance of leadership in the larger communities, HUL has also been extending its role in building and harnessing leadership amongst the student community. Senior leader campus interactions with students to share leadership perspectives and insights and leadership development program and intervention for student leaders are part of this larger initiative, which has created great visible impact on students.
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.
