Fabian Thylmann, the German-born 35 year-old multimillionaire head of Manwin, has stepped down as the company’s CEO and sold his shares in the giant online porn business to the company’s management team for a reported €73m.
Manwin, the firm behind such well-known portals as YouPorn, Spankwire, Brazzers, PornHub, RedTube, Digital Playground, Twistys, Playboy Plus and many others, has faced rocky times in recent months. In December last year Thylmann was arrested in Belgium and extradited to Cologne on charges of tax evasion. He denied the accusations, saying he’d only minimised his tax burden through legal tax avoidance, but was only released after paying a seven-figure sum, it was reported.
Specific reasons for Thylmann’s exit from Manwin have not been made public, but his leaving letter to the firm’s 1,000 (approx.) employees has been published. In it he wrote:“It has been a long time since most of us have talked, but today I am reaching out for an announcement that I am sure has been rumoured around the office in the last few months.”
He continued: “It is with a sad heart that I have to announce that I have decided to sell Manwin to Manwin’s top management team. Please believe me that this decision has been one of the hardest in our lives for both my wife and myself. We have grown fond of all of you and are happy to be able to call many of you our close and dear friends. But exactly for this reason we believe this move is the best for everyone. Both myself and Manwin are at a stage where I can no longer add significant value to the best of my ability. I hope I have taught all of you and management the right values to be able to continue the company in the best possible way and I am looking forward to following its development.”
Thylmann concluded: “Who knows, maybe some of our paths will cross again in the years to come. If anyone wants to chat, I can be reached via my old Manwin email address for the foreseeable future. I hope you had a good time with my family and myself around and can keep fond memories of our fun times together. Keep up the great work everyone and hopefully see you soon!”
Launched in 2007, Manwin claims to be a ‘Top Five’ bandwidth consuming company, globally, generating over €100m (estimated) in revenue annually and averaging more than six billion hits per month across all platforms and sites. Its Luxembourg head office is supported by regional offices in London, Dublin, Hamburg, Montreal, Nicosia and Burbank, California.
