Brands
Supreme court sends whisky warriors to mediation
CHENNAI: India’s supreme court has thrown a lifeline to two feuding liquor giants locked in a bruising trademark battle, ordering them to attempt mediation rather than slug it out in the country’s highest court.
The dispute pits Allied Blenders and Distillers against John Distilleries, with the companies’ “Officer’s Choice” and “Original Choice” whisky brands at the centre of a fight that has wound through tribunals and courts for over a decade. At stake: which distiller gets to keep its valuable trademark, and which must rebrand.
The Madras high court delivered a knockout blow to John Distilleries on 7 November, ordering the cancellation of its “Original Choice” trademark whilst allowing Allied Blenders to keep “Officer’s Choice.” John Distilleries immediately appealed to the supreme court.
But when the special leave petition came up for hearing on 17 November before justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, both sides fielded an extraordinary lineup of legal firepower—ten senior advocates between them—suggesting neither was confident of victory. The bench suggested mediation instead.
Both parties “very fairly agreed to take a chance,” according to the court’s order. Justice L. Nageswara Rao, a former supreme court judge, has been tapped as mediator and instructed to conclude the settlement “at the earliest.” The parties were told to contact him the same day to schedule preliminary talks within the week.
The supreme court will review progress on 8 December. If mediation fails, the legal slugfest resumes—with one brand potentially facing oblivion in India’s competitive spirits market.
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.
