MindGeek, you’ve got some explaining to do. One should never make assumptions, but I’m pretty certain that the employees that were just laid off by Pornhub aren’t too geeked about the decision. Mindgeek, the company that owns and operates Pornhub has laid off reportedly 70% of their staffers. With these major shakeups and abrupt company actions becoming more widespread within the adult industry, is the future of online porn doomed?
The internet porn giant faced criticism when the New Yorker published an investigative piece last week, documenting how Pornhub has hosted sexually explicit, non-consensual videos. The videos in question features children and details how people in the videos have spent months trying to get the materials removed from the site. Pornhub is the tenth most-trafficked website in the world and the third biggest adult website globally.
In the aftermath, CEO Feras Antoon and COO David Tassillo resigned, in what the company called a “leadership transition”, which they claim has been in the works since last year. And to the surprise of no one , both Antoon and Tassillo will remain shareholders in MindGeek.
As if that wasn’t enough of a shakeup already, MindGeek then handed the pink slip to an unspecified number of employees. A rep for the company chose to keep tight lipped on the exact number, as they have declined to comment. But an anonymous post on Blind, a social network that allows employees to discreetly share information about the companies they work for, published a post about MindGeek stating the following:
“They just fired 70% of the company. Vps, managers, engineers, etc. CEO was changed. Only a skeleton crew is left on [Pornhub] and TrafficJunky.”
A spokesperson for MindGeek did tell Variety that the rumors the company had laid off more than half its staff is “insane and totally false.”
We’re not sure what the exact number is, but the massive shakeup seems that trouble is looming. Let’s not forget about the former popular adult site, XTube, which permanently shut down it’s operation and site in September 2021. XTube was also owned by MindGeek.
Will all of these juggernaut porn companies be shutting down in the next few years? As the action to publish material responsibly (both legal and consensual adult rated content), is being called for — we may see more lay offs and company closures. Are independent, solo content creators the future of the adult industry? What are your thoughts on the Pornhub lay offs and the future state of porn?
