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LinkedIn crosses 50 million user mark in India
MUMBAI: For all the tech giants, India is becoming a high potential market very fast. Microsoft-owned professional networking platform LinkedIn has crossed the 50 million user mark in the country. The company which rolled out in 2009 had only 3.4 million users then, whereas now India is the second largest market globally.
“Our members-first, localised approach has helped us cross the 50-million mark in India. We are at the beginning of an exciting journey, as we democratise opportunity for every member of the Indian workforce,” LinkedIn country manager and international product head Akshay Kothari said.
The company has doubled its user base in the last four years on the platform. In future, the company will continue to focus on students, career starters, and professionals, beyond knowledge workers.
For localisation of the platform, the company took several initiatives. In 2016, it launched the LinkedIn Lite website targeted for areas where internet connection is slow. The company has come up with an app version of LinkedIn Lite for Android users also.
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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.
