Lads mag founder set for a listing windfall

AN ONLINE ‘lads mag’ is set to float on the London stock market – valued at £360m.

Lad Bible was founded by Solly Solomou, 30, (below) in 2012 and the listing will probably bring him a multimillion pound windfall.

To beef up credibility Lad Bible has hired Carol Kane, the co-founder of the online fashion site Boohoo, for its board. It will look to raise £30m from the offering.

Based in Manchester, Lad Bible Group owns websites Lad Bible, Sport Bible and Unilad, filling the vacuum left by ‘lads’ magazines of the 90s like FHM and Nuts.

Articles are focused on topics that interest young men, in particular sport, women and movies.

It also covers mainstream news, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak did an interview with it last year.

Solomou started the company while studying business management at the University of Leeds and is understood to hold a controlling stake, which could be worth roughly £200m.

It has 360 staff in London, Manchester, Dublin, Melbourne and Sydney. Despite its name, 40pc of readers are female.

It makes money through brand partnerships, a licensing arm and adverts. It last month posted record results – a £4.1m profit.