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LG Electronics India pledges $5.5 million to support Covid-relief efforts
MUMBAI: Consumer durable firm LG Electronics India has pledged $5.5 million for Covid-relief efforts and set up medical infrastructure to aid the battle against the novel Coronavirus in India. The company said as part of this initiative, it will set up 10 makeshift hospitals across India in association with local government bodies and NGOs.
It will also fund more beds to treat Covid-19 patients at India’s biggest medical facility, AIIMS.
“All these makeshift hospitals will be made across Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Pune, Bhopal, Udaipur, Lucknow and other cities in association with various government hospitals. LG Electronics will be working with implementation partners including people to People foundation across various states,” it added.
In a statement, LG Electronics India MD Young Lak Kim said, “We stand committed to lending our full support to the government and citizens in the fight against Covid-19. With the onset of the pandemic last year, we provided support by sharing our resources with the healthcare community. Our focus has always been on the well-being of the people and we believe through makeshift hospitals we can contribute to saving lives by creating medical infrastructure. We will be working with various authorities and partners to create required medical infrastructure with a budget of $ 5.5 million.“
In April 2020, LG had partnered with Akshaya Patra Foundation to serve one million meals across India and donated products like water purifiers, air-conditioners, refrigerators and TVs to over 300 hospitals allotted for quarantine/ isolation wards in states and districts.
LG’s decision to support India in its fight against Covid-19 comes days after other tech giants pledged similar support. Earlier this week, Twitter announced $15 million funding to help address the Covid-19 crisis in the country.
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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.
