Private Equity Firm Acquires MindGeek, the Parent Company of Pornhub

Ethical Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Ottawa, announced its acquisition of MindGeek, the parent company of the widely known pornography website Pornhub. The purchase amount remains undisclosed.

MindGeek, based in Montreal, ranks among the top dozen most visited websites globally, surpassing platforms like Amazon, Netflix, and TikTok. The company recently faced significant controversies, including allegations of sexual exploitation on Pornhub, highlighted in a New York Times opinion piece. This controversy led Pornhub to remove millions of videos and resulted in Visa and MasterCard ending their association with the site. It also prompted an inquiry by the Canadian Parliament.

The Canadian government has been exploring measures to address harmful online materials, with discussions and roundtables held since 2021, although no specific legislation has been introduced yet.

Ethical Capital Partners was founded in 2021 by Rocco Meliambro, a cannabis entrepreneur, and Fady Mansour, a criminal lawyer, who serve as the chair and managing partner, respectively. Another founding partner is Derek Ogden, a retired chief superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

This acquisition of MindGeek is the only news post on the company’s website so far. Mansour emphasized the firm’s focus on innovative and ethically-driven companies, seeing MindGeek as a dynamic tech brand with a foundation in trust, safety, and compliance. With the support of Ethical Capital Partners, MindGeek aims to further its commitment to safe, legal, sex-positive technology and continue connecting users with reliable content and partners.

MindGeek, legally based in Luxembourg but primarily operating out of Montreal, settled a class-action lawsuit in California in 2021. This lawsuit alleged that the company profited from material depicting child sexual abuse and non-consensual activities, with several Canadians among the plaintiffs.