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LadBible Group, the youth-focused digital publisher, is to target a valuation of £360m in one of the London stock market’s biggest media industry flotations this year.
Sky News understands that Solly Solomou, the co-founder of LBG Media, is to sell a chunk of his stake, which will be valued at about £200m if the initial public offering (IPO) is successful.
LadBible, which was founded by Mr Solomou and Arian Kalantari in 2012, has become one of Britain’s most prominent digital content publishers aimed at young adults.
The business was established during a period of explosive growth in online media consumption, and has managed to carve out a loyal international following which now generates more than 28bn content views globally every year.
Its surging audience has come at a time when traditional ‘lads’ magazine’ publishers have struggled to compete online, with the likes of FHM, Loaded and Zoo all either ceasing their print editions or closing altogether.
The British-based company owns a portfolio of online titles including LADbible, SPORTbible, Tyla, GAMINGbible and UNILAD.
Surprisingly, 40% of its audience is female.
City sources said that LBG Media was likely to raise £30m from the sale of new shares, with £80m of shares being sold by existing investors including Mr Solomou.
As part of its preparations for going public, it has recruited Carol Kane, the co-founder of the online fashion site Boohoo, to its board, according to a draft Schedule One published on Wednesday.
LadBible’s commercial clients include Unilever
Ms Kane has become a non-executive director of LBG Media after her Boohoo colleague and major LadBible shareholder, Mahmud Kamani, stepped down from the media company’s board.
LadBible competes with the likes of Vice Media, the US-based publisher which has…
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Source : skynews
